What is minimum necessary information

Minimum Necessary is the process that is defined in the HIPAA regulations: When using or disclosing protected health information or when requesting protected health information from another covered entity.

The purpose of the Minimum Necessary Policy is to provide policies and procedures on the “minimum necessary” of Protected Health Information (PHI) as required by the HIPAA Privacy Regulations.  It is to establish guidelines to implement the minimum necessary standard and to determine how the standard impacts the use, disclosure and request of PHI.  [In addition, State of Wisconsin regulations for mental health, alcohol and drug abuse and developmental disabled records requires whenever information from treatment records is disclosed that the information be limited to include only the information necessary to fulfill the request.]  This policy and procedure will have generalized policies and procedures that can be associated with organizations.  For some of those organizations that have only a small number of the workforce disclosing the PHI or handling the PHI, some of the policy and procedures in this document may not be necessary.