Final answer:
HIPAA is the previous federal regulation that covered confidentiality standards of health and medical records.
Step-by-step explanation:
Prior to HIPAA, there was a previous federal regulation that covered confidentiality standards of health and medical records.
The previous federal regulation referred to in the question is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which was passed into law in 1996 to set standards for the protection of patient information. It requires businesses that use health information, such as insurance companies and healthcare providers, to maintain strict confidentiality of patient records.
Therefore, the statement is true.