 Protections on medical records and consumer data from pharmacies are stronger compared to those for other kinds of consumer data.The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects the privacy of identifiable data about health, but authorize information release to third parties if de-identified.In addition, it mandates that patients receive breach notifications should there be more than a low probability that the patient's information was inappropriately disclosed or utilized without sufficient mitigation of the harm to him or her.