What constitutes a breach of HIPAA?

A breach of HIPAA is defined as any impermissible use or disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) that compromises the security or privacy of that information. This definition is rooted in the primary goal of HIPAA, which is to protect patients' privacy and ensure that their health information is handled properly.

When PHI is disclosed in a manner that is not allowed by HIPAA regulations, it can lead to unauthorized parties accessing sensitive information, which can cause significant harm to individuals, such as identity theft or loss of privacy. This breach covers a wide range of scenarios where PHI is involved, making option B the most comprehensive and accurate description of what constitutes a breach under HIPAA.

In contrast, while delays in processing health information or failures to document may lead to issues in healthcare provision, they do not directly constitute breaches of patient privacy or security as defined by HIPAA. Loss of patient records due to natural disasters could potentially be serious but is not inherently a breach unless those records were not maintained with adequate security measures prior to the disaster. Thus, they do not fulfill the specific criteria set out under HIPAA regulations.