Significance

• The notice of privacy practice is a written form that details the privacy practices of a health care organization, as required by HIPAA. In this way, health care providers inform patients in advance of the ways in which their private health care information may be used or shared.
  
  

Function

• The HIPAA privacy rule requires providing a written notice of privacy form. The privacy rule specifically makes it illegal for health care workers to share protected health information in oral, written or electronic forms of communication, and requires providers to inform a patient of her rights under the law.
  
  

Types

• HIPAA specifies that certain information be addressed in a notice of privacy form. For instance, it should be written in plain language and specify how and when information may be shared and that the individual has the right to complain to the provider with regard to the sharing of private health information.