The Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) include national standards for electronic health care transactions, codes, identifiers and security and privacy standards for personal health information. This e-learning module provides a general overview of what is referred to as the Privacy Rule and discusses the key provisions and significant exceptions. Note that certain actions permitted by these regulations may nonetheless be prohibited or restricted by other state or federal law. Please note that the information contained in this module is intended for general use by employers and employers that sponsor group health plans. Thus it may not include all of the specific requirements for all types of covered entities (for example, physicians or hospitals). Therefore, it should not be relied upon to meet the specific training requirements for employees of those covered entities. For specific legal advice you should consult legal counsel.