Under HIPAA confidentiality, which statement is true?

• A. Doctors can release information to family members without patient approval.
• B. HIPAA has no rules about confidentiality.
• C. Patients have full control on how their medical information is used and who can have access to it. Minors are an exception.
• D. Patients have no rights regarding confidentiality.

Answer: (C)

Under HIPAA, patients have rights to control their health information: who can access it and how it’s used. The statement that best fits this idea is that patients generally have this control, with an important exception for minors, where parents or guardians may access their child’s information in many situations. In practice, you can request access to your records and set limits on disclosures, but there are also standard exceptions that allow certain disclosures without patient authorization for treatment, payment, or health care operations. The other options ignore these protections or those exceptions, so they don’t accurately reflect HIPAA confidentiality.