The Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS'' or "Department'') modifies certain standards in the Rule entitled "Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information'' ("Privacy Rule''). The Privacy Rule implements the privacy requirements of the Administrative Simplification subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The purpose of these modifications is to maintain strong protections for the privacy of individually identifiable health information while clarifying certain of the Privacy Rule's provisions, addressing the unintended negative effects of the Privacy Rule on health care quality or access to health care, and relieving unintended administrative burdens created by the Privacy Rule.