HIPAA Regulations: General Provisions: Definitions - State - § 160.103
As Contained in the HHS HIPAA Rules
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HHS Regulations as Amended January 2013 |
State refers to one of the following:
(1) For a health plan established or regulated by Federal law, State has the meaning set forth in the applicable section of the United States Code for such health plan.
(2) For all other purposes, State means any of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
| HHS Description and Commentary From the January 2013 Amendments General Provisions: Definitions - State |
Proposed Rule
The HITECH Act at section 13400 includes a definition of “State” to mean “each of the several States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.” This definition varies from paragraph (2) of the HIPAA definition of “State” at § 160.103, which does not include reference to American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Thus, for consistency with the definition applied to the HIPAA Rules by the HITECH Act, we proposed to add reference to American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in paragraph (2) of the definition of “State” at § 160.103.
Final Rule
The Department did not receive substantive public comment on this proposal and the final rule adopts the proposed modifications to the definition of “State.”
| HHS Description From the Original Rulemaking General Provisions: Definitions - State |
We modify the definition of state as adopted in the Transactions Rule to clarify that this term refers to any of the several states.