Correct. This guide uses the word “correct” to mean adding information to your medical records to make it more accurate or complete.

Health Care Provider. This guide uses the term “health care provider” to refer to doctors, dentists, chiropractors (and other health care practitioners) and to hospitals and other health care facilities.

HIPAA Privacy Rule. A set of legal rules written by the United States Department of Health and Human Services under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). These rules set national standards that give patients the right to see, copy, and amend their own health information. They also set standards protecting the privacy of health information. The HIPAA Privacy Rule does not apply to everyone who keeps health information about you. Health care providers (such as doctors and hospitals) and health plans (such as health insurers and Medicare) have to follow the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Others, such as employers, generally do not have to follow the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

HIPAA. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This federal law directed the United States Department of Health and Human Services to write rules protecting the privacy of health information. The federal law leaves in place state laws that have privacy protections that are equal to or greater than the federal law.

Notice of Privacy Practices. A notice that health care providers must give their patients that explains the patients’ rights under the HIPAA Privacy Rule. This notice must also explain how a provider can use health information and share it with others.

Personal representative. This guide uses the term “personal representative” to refer to someone who has the legal right to make health care decisions on behalf of another person. With respect to deceased people, the term “personal representative” is broader and includes someone who has the right to make any sort of decision on behalf of the individual or their estate.

Retrieval Fee. A fee for the administrative time spent searching for and finding your medical record. 

Right of Access. The right to see and get a copy of your medical record. 

Right to Amend. The right to amend your health information by adding information to it. The right to amend does not mean a right to have information erased. 

Right to Review. The right to have someone else review a health care provider’s denial of a request for a medical record.