What does incidental use and disclosure refer to?

Incidental use and disclosure refers to situations where protected health information (PHI) is unintentionally exposed during legitimate activities, such as patient care. This can involve scenarios where, while providing treatment or healthcare services, someone may overhear a conversation or see documents that contain PHI without it being a planned or deliberate act.

For example, if a healthcare provider discusses a patient's health status in a shared area, and someone else overhears part of that conversation, it would be considered an incidental disclosure. The HIPAA Privacy Rule recognizes that certain incidental disclosures are unavoidable, provided that reasonable safeguards are in place to minimize risks. In contrast, deliberate sharing of PHI for marketing purposes, involving anonymized patient information in research, or formally approving records for audit would fall outside the definition of incidental use and disclosure as they are more controlled and intentional activities.