Confidentiality laws in health care protect the privacy of what type of information?

• A. Private health information
• B. Public health statistics
• C. Financial records
• D. Educational records

Answer: (A)

Confidentiality laws in health care protect private health information (PHI): data about a person’s health care that could identify them, such as medical histories, diagnoses, treatment plans, test results, and related billing information. These laws aim to keep health details confidential and only shared with proper authorization.

Public health statistics are typically reported in de-identified, aggregated form, so they don’t reveal individual patients. Educational records fall under FERPA, not health care confidentiality rules. Financial records outside of health care generally aren’t the personal health information that confidentiality laws focus on. So the information these laws guard is private health information.