What effect does HIPAA aim to have on patient information?

HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is fundamentally designed to protect and secure patient information. One of its primary objectives is to establish national standards for the protection of sensitive patient health information, known as protected health information (PHI). Through various provisions, HIPAA sets guidelines on how healthcare providers, health plans, and other entities must handle and safeguard patient information to prevent unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.

The law mandates measures such as the implementation of physical, administrative, and technical safeguards to ensure that patient data is kept confidential and secure. It not only focuses on the security aspects but also places an emphasis on the importance of patient privacy, thus ensuring that individuals feel safe and secure when sharing their health information with healthcare providers.

While the other options touch upon aspects that may relate to healthcare practices, none directly encapsulate HIPAA’s primary intent to safeguard patient information. For instance, expanding data accessibility or enhancing public rights to access medical records, while relevant to healthcare policy discussions, do not align as closely as protecting and securing patient information with the core principles of HIPAA.