Final answer:
The legislation that ensures a patient's health records is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which maintains strict confidentiality and protects patient privacy.
Step-by-step explanation:
The legislation that ensures a patient's health records is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), passed into law in 1996. HIPAA sets the standards for the protection of patient information and requires entities such as insurance companies and healthcare providers to maintain strict confidentiality of patient records. It protects against unauthorized, nonconsensual release of individually identifiable health information to entities not actively engaged in providing healthcare to a patient, thereby addressing the privacy concerns around health records.