HIPAA and privacy

Overview

Penn Medicine has taken steps to document our notice of privacy practices to achieve HIPAA compliance. Without exception, a link to Penn Medicine’s HIPAA notice of privacy practicesmust be included on every patient-facing web page.

It is critical that this information is available for the following reasons:

• Legal compliance: HIPAA requires covered entities (like hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies) to provide a Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) to patients. This is not optional—it's a legal obligation under the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
• Patient rights and transparency: Publishing HIPAA privacy practices empowers patients by informing them of their right to access, amend, or receive a copy of their medical records, their right to request restrictions on how their data is used, and how to file a complaint if they believe their privacy rights were violated. Transparency builds trust between healthcare providers and patients.
• Promotes accountability: Making privacy practices public creates a clear standard for staff to follow when handling patient data, and shows regulators and the public that the organization takes privacy seriously.
• Risk management: Clear privacy practices help minimize the risk of data breaches or unauthorized disclosures, misunderstandings or legal disputes with patients, and possible fines and reputation damage due to non-compliance.
• Patient education: Many people don’t understand how their health information is shared.

Related resources

Penn Medicine HIPAA notice of privacy