Final answer:
HIPAA, passed in 1996, establishes regulations for the protection of personal health information which includes any identifiable data in a medical record. It restricts the unauthorized release of this information and requires consent from the patient for disclosures. Contacting someone about a patient's condition without consent would violate HIPAA's rules.
Step-by-step explanation:
Protected Health Information Under HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996 and is a critical piece of legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information. This law ensures that individuals' health information is protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide high-quality health care. Protected health information (PHI) under HIPAA includes any information in a medical record that can be used to identify an individual, and that was created, used, or disclosed in the course of providing a health care service, such as a diagnosis or treatment.
Businesses that deal with PHI must ensure that all the required physical, network, and process security measures are in place and followed to safeguard individuals' medical information. These measures prevent unauthorized, nonconsensual release of individually identifiable health information. Violations may include but are not limited to disclosing a patient's health status, medical condition, treatments, or personal identifiers without their explicit consent. Therefore, contacting a sexual partner about a patient's diagnosis without consent is a HIPAA violation, and such privacy concerns are taken seriously in the context of health information sharing among providers and organizations.