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HIPAA Wellness Gap

Meaning

The HIPAA Wellness Gap refers to the regulatory ambiguity or explicit lack of comprehensive coverage under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for health data collected and held by non-traditional entities, specifically many direct-to-consumer wellness apps, wearable devices, and personalized hormonal tracking services. This critical gap means that highly sensitive physiological data, such such as sleep metrics, heart rate variability, or non-clinical hormone measurements, often lack the stringent privacy and security protections mandated for HIPAA-covered entities like hospitals and clinics. Patients must be aware that their wellness data may not be shielded by traditional medical privacy laws.