develops standards related to

the architecture, content,

storage, security,
confidentiality, functionality,
and communication of
information used within
healthcare and healthcare
decision making, including
patient-specific information
and knowledge.
develop integration profiles to
assure that health information
seamlessly is passing from
application to application,
system to system, and setting to
setting across the entire
healthcare enterprise.
promoting the right of privacy for all
individuals and protecting the
maintenance of confidential
information to the fullest extent
permitted by law

Aims to ensure information security and confidentiality
"ensuring that information is accessible only to those authorized
to have access"