What It Is

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is a US federal regulation establishing national standards for protecting individuals' health information. It comprises Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule, using a risk-based, flexible, scalable approach for covered entities and business associates handling protected health information (PHI) and electronic PHI (ePHI).

Key Components

• **Privacy RuleControls PHI uses/disclosures, minimum necessary, patient rights.
• **Security RuleAdministrative, physical, technical safeguards for ePHI.
• **Breach Notification RuleTimely notifications post-unsecured PHI breaches. Built on governance, risk analysis, and enforcement via HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR); no formal certification, but compliance through audits and settlements.

Why Organizations Use It

Mandated for healthcare providers, plans, clearinghouses; reduces breach risks, ensures legal compliance, builds patient trust, enables secure data flows for care/operations, mitigates multimillion-dollar penalties.

Implementation Overview

Phased approach: assess risks/gaps, implement safeguards/training/BAAs, continuous monitoring. Applies to US healthcare ecosystem; scalable by organization size; requires documented risk analysis, no external certification.

What It Is

BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is a science-led sustainability certification framework for the built environment. It assesses environmental, social, and resilience performance across buildings, infrastructure, and communities using a credit-based, weighted scoring methodology that yields ratings from Pass to Outstanding.

Key Components

• **10 core categoriesManagement, Health & Wellbeing, Energy, Transport, Water, Materials, Waste, Land Use & Ecology, Pollution, Innovation.
• Hundreds of credits with prerequisites, evidence requirements, and third-party audits.
• Built on technical manuals, KBCNs, and BRE assurance under ISO/IEC 17065.
• Certification via licensed assessors and BRE Global QA.

Why Organizations Use It

• Drives ESG alignment, net-zero strategies, and EU Taxonomy compliance.
• Delivers energy savings (22-33%), asset value uplift (up to 30%), and risk mitigation.
• Enhances market differentiation, tenant appeal, and regulatory readiness.
• Builds stakeholder trust through independent verification.

Implementation Overview

• Phased approach: pre-assessment, design integration, construction evidence, certification, In-Use monitoring.
• Early assessor/AP appointment essential; applies globally to all sizes/industries.
• Requires training, evidence management, and periodic recertification (e.g., 3 years for In-Use).