Which aspect of HIPAA aims to maintain the integrity of personal health information?

Maintaining the integrity of personal health information is a crucial component of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance, and integrity safeguards specifically address this requirement. These safeguards are designed to ensure that health information is accurate, complete, and protected from unauthorized alterations or destruction. By implementing integrity safeguards, healthcare organizations can ensure that the information remains reliable and trustworthy throughout its lifecycle.

Integrity safeguards are aligned with the HIPAA Security Rule, which emphasizes the need for organizations to put in place policies, procedures, and technical measures to protect electronic protected health information (ePHI) from improper modification or destruction. Such measures might include the use of audit controls, encryption, and secure data transmission protocols, which together help to preserve the information's correctness and authenticity.

In contrast, the other options focus on different aspects of managing health information. Disclosure policies regulate how and when health information may be shared; access control measures are aimed at limiting who can access health information to authorized individuals only; and communication practices involve the methods by which health information is shared among providers and with patients. While important, these options do not specifically address the aspect of maintaining the integrity of personal health information as directly as integrity safeguards do.