HIPAA:   A federal law that includes a section on administrative simplification requiring standardization of electronic data interchanges and greater protection of confidentiality and security of health data.

(45 CFR §§ 160.103 and 164.501) The HIPAA Rule contains a number of words and phrases that have specific meaning as applied to the HIPAA Rule. Examples of such words and phrases include, but are not limited to, "treatment," "payment," "health care operations", "designated record set", "covered entity" and "protected health information."