What Judicial Officers Need to Know about the HIPAA Privacy Rule

Abstract

This article reviews and analyzes how the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, or "Privacy Rule" of Public Law 104-191 of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), have impacted the administration of student judicial affairs in higher education. In addition to briefly summarizing the regulations, the article describes how HIPAA has been interpreted to apply to campus health services and examines how the Privacy Rule relates to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), to campus police and security operations, and to the maintenance of disciplinary records. The author concludes that the Rule will not interfere with FERPA and should have little appreciable effect on ordinary judicial affairs operations in higher education. However, it may modify the ways in which student affairs professionals interact with health care providers in their institutions' communities. Nine "best practice" recommendations are offered.