THE HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (HIPAA) (known as THE PRIVACY RULE) BACKGROUND December 2000—HHS issued Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (Privacy Rule), which became effective October 15, 2002 April 14, 2003—Entities covered by the Privacy Rule must be in compliance 2 PRIVACY RULE REQUIREMENTS Students or parents/legal guardians sign an Authorization that describes, in writing, the