Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

The University of Tennessee System and its campuses conduct both covered and uncovered transactions under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Under these circumstances, HIPAA allows entities to designate themselves as a hybrid entity.  A hybrid entity must designate a component or combination of components as its HIPAA Health Care Components in accordance with 45 C.F.R. §§ 164.103 and 164.105(a)(2)(iii)(D).

A HIPAA Health Care Component is a component of the single legal entity that would meet the definition of a HIPAA Covered Entity if it were a separate entity; or an office within the Hybrid Entity that accesses Protected Health Information of an office that is a Health Care Component for the purpose of providing services to the Health Care Component.  

As such, following are the current Health Care Components for the University of Tennessee and its campuses: 

• UT Health Science Center (UTHSC): The entirety of UTHSC’s organizational unit is considered a covered component. UTHSC’s latest organization chart is found at http://uthsc.edu. 
• UT Knoxville (UTK): 
  • Vine School Health Center 
• Workforce members that provide services to health care components: 
  • Campus police 
  • Finance 
  • Human Resources 
  • Information Technology 
  • Office of Audit and Compliance 
  • Office of the General Counsel