What does the HIPAA Security Rule aim to achieve?

The HIPAA Security Rule primarily focuses on safeguarding electronic protected health information (ePHI) to ensure its confidentiality, integrity, and availability. By establishing a set of national standards for the protection of health information that is created, received, maintained, or transmitted electronically, the Security Rule aims to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive patient data. This includes implementing necessary administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that healthcare providers, health plans, and other entities covered under HIPAA must follow. The emphasis is on protecting patient information from breaches or theft, which is crucial for maintaining trust in the healthcare system and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. While improving patient health outcomes, facilitating information sharing, and increasing healthcare efficiency are important aspects of healthcare overall, they are not the primary focus of the HIPAA Security Rule.