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A hospital uses real charts to review how well its nurses perform. Which HIPAA category is that?

Health care operations.

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  1. Health care operations ✔
  2. Treatment
  3. Research that needs authorization

Why: Health care operations include quality improvement, reviewing staff competence and performance, and supervised training programs. They're permitted without the patient's authorization.

Huh, didn't know that: If gaining generalizable knowledge is the main goal, the activity is research, not quality improvement.

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References

Answer: Health care operations. Health care operations include quality improvement, reviewing staff competence and performance, and supervised training programs. They're permitted without the patient's authorization.

  1. 45 CFR 164.501 (eCFR) www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.501
    Reviewing the competence or qualifications of health care professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance
    Checked 2026-10-10.
  2. 45 CFR 164.501 (eCFR) www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.501
    provided that the obtaining of generalizable knowledge is not the primary purpose of any studies
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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