# HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.510(b)(4) — Uses and disclosures for disaster relief purposes - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-510-b-4-uses-and-disclosures-for-disaster-relief-purposes - Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [HIPAA Security, Privacy & Breach-Notification Rules](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa) › Privacy Rule — §164.510 - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)**·§ `164.510(b)(4)`·medium·Component: **Privacy Rule** ## What this control requires > Standard: Uses and disclosures for involvement in the individual's care and notification purposes (4) Uses and disclosures for disaster relief purposes. A covered entity may use or disclose protected health information to a public or private entity authorized by law or by its charter to assist in disaster relief efforts, for the purpose of coordinating with such entities the uses or disclosures permitted by paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section. The requirements in paragraphs (b)(2), (b)(3) or (b)(5) of this section apply to such uses and disclosures to the extent that the covered entity, in the exercise of professional judgment, determines that the requirements do not interfere with the ability to respond to the emergency circumstances. > > — HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164), § 164.510(b)(4) ### In plain English Standard: Uses and disclosures for involvement in the individual's care and notification purposes (4) Uses and disclosures for disaster relief purposes. In practice, this means you can prove you information requirements-level controls on a defined cadence. ## Why it matters HIPAA non-compliance is a strict-liability matter: OCR civil monetary penalties are assessed per-record per-violation (up to USD 1.9 million per identical-violation calendar year as of 2024), and willful neglect can trigger criminal referral. ## What an auditor looks for HHS OCR investigators and SOC-2+HIPAA auditors look for the specific 45 CFR § citation, whether the safeguard is required vs addressable (and if addressable, the documented decision), the implementation specification, the workforce member responsible, and the records that show it runs. Within **Privacy Rule**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (§ 164.510(b)(4)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Policy Management **Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA. ### Operational checklist - **Information.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Requirements.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Notification.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Law.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** requirements, management, notification, policy, section, uses, b, ii. ## Evidence to collect - **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document. Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Uses and disclosures for disaster relief purposes. ## Common pitfalls - Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced. ## How it maps to other frameworks Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit. - [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.8.26** — Application security requirements](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-8-26-application-security-requirements) - [**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-3(1)** — Automated Documentation, Notification, And Prohibition Of Changes](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-3-1-automated-documentation-notification-and-prohibition-of-changes) - [**BSI C5:2020 SP-01** — Documentation, communication and provision of policies and instructions](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/sp-01-documentation-communication-and-provision-of-policies-and-instructions) - [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC2.3** — External Communication on Internal Control Matters](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc2-3-external-communication-on-internal-control-matters) - [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.13.15** — Session Authenticity](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-13-15-session-authenticity) ## Related controls in HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) - [**§ 164.512(a)** — Uses and disclosures required by law](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-512-a-uses-and-disclosures-required-by-law) - [**§ 164.510(b)(2)** — Uses and disclosures with the individual present](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-510-b-2-uses-and-disclosures-with-the-individual-present) - [**§ 164.514(d)(5)** — Minimum Necessary - Other content requirement](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-514-d-5-minimum-necessary-other-content-requirement) - [**§ 164.530(e)(1)** — Sanctions](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-530-e-1-sanctions) - [**§ 164.502(j)(2)** — Disclosures by workforce members who are victims of a crime](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-502-j-2-disclosures-by-workforce-members-who-are-victims-of-a-crime) - [**§ 164.512(e)** — Disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-512-e-disclosures-for-judicial-and-administrative-proceedings) ## References - [U.S. HHS Office for Civil Rights — HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/index.html) - Catalogue identifier: `§ 164.510(b)(4)` Topics: governance riskpolicy management ## Related compliance guidance - [HIPAA compliance for SaaS: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa): Start with the full HIPAA implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs. - [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most covered-entity customers accept a SOC 2 Type II report as the independent evidence that your HIPAA controls operate, since no HIPAA attestation exists. - [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): NIST publishes mappings of the Security Rule standards and implementation specifications to SP 800-53 Rev. 5 controls alongside SP 800-66 Rev. 2, so an 800-53 control set doubles as a HIPAA crosswalk.