Under HIPAA, what is "use" defined as?

"Use" under the HIPAA Privacy Rule refers specifically to the handling of protected health information (PHI) within a single covered entity, such as a healthcare provider or a healthcare facility. This encompasses various ways in which an organization interacts with its own patient data, including viewing, maintaining, transmitting, and processing the information internally.

When the term "use" is discussed in the context of HIPAA, it highlights the internal processes and actions taken with health information by any member of the healthcare facility's workforce. This aspect is critical in understanding HIPAA's implications for privacy and safeguarding patient information across the operations of healthcare organizations.

In contrast, sharing information between different healthcare facilities represents "disclosure," which involves transmitting PHI outside the covered entity. Storing health information electronically pertains to the format and method of maintaining records rather than how the information is accessed or used. Analyzing patient data for research purposes can involve both "uses" and "disclosures," depending on whether the analysis is conducted internally or requires external access to information.

Therefore, the correct definition of "use" is focused on the actions undertaken by a healthcare entity within its own boundaries rather than interactions with external entities or analysis for research that may involve different compliance considerations.