HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)·§ 164.512(k)(1)·medium·Component: Privacy Rule

What this control requires

Standard: Uses and disclosures for specialized government functions. (1) Military and veterans activities (i) Armed Forces personnel. A covered entity may use or disclose the protected health information of individuals who are Armed Forces personnel for activities deemed necessary by appropriate military command authorities to assure the proper execution of the military mission, if the appropriate military authority has published by notice in the Federal Register the following information: (A) Appropriate military command authorities; and (B) The purposes for which the protected health information may be used or disclosed. (ii) Separation or discharge from military service. A covered entity that is a component of the Departments of Defense or Homeland Security may disclose to the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) the protected health information of an individual who is a member of the Armed Forces upon the separation or discharge of the individual from military service for the purpose of a determination by DVA of the individuals eligibility for or entitlement to benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. (iii) Veterans. A covered entity that is a component of the Department of Veterans Affairs may use and disclose protected health information to components of the Department that determine eligibility for or entitlement to, or that provide, benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. (iv) Foreign military personnel. A covered entity may use or disclose the protected health information of individuals who are foreign military personnel to their appropriate foreign military authority for the same purposes for which uses and disclosures are permitted for Armed Forces personnel under the notice published in the Federal Register pursuant to paragraph (k)(1)(i) of this section.
— HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164), § 164.512(k)(1)

In plain English

Standard: Uses and disclosures for specialized government functions. In practice, this means you can prove you security security-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 (§ 164.512(k)(1)) 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

  • Security. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Information. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Policy. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Notice. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Uses. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Scope: security, management, individuals, secretary, notice, determination, policy, i.

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 specialized government functions - Military.

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.

Related controls in HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)

References

Topics: governance riskpolicy management