HIPAA

HIPAA is the U.S. health-data privacy regime invoked in HealthOS as the regulatory complexity Apple had to navigate — working with vendors, hospitals, and government agencies — to aggregate patient health data.

Context: HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) is the U.S. federal law that sets national standards for the privacy and security of protected health information, governing how providers, insurers, and their vendors handle patient data.

Where this appears

• HealthOS — cited as the “complicated” regulatory backdrop Apple worked through to become the health-data platform.