HIPAA Treatment, Payment, and Operations (45 CFR 164.506)
Covered entities may use and disclose PHI for treatment, payment, and health care operations without authorization, subject to limits and notice requirements.
Primary source
45 CFR 164.506 — eCFR →https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.506
Verified May 23, 2026 · This is the authoritative regulator URL. The summary below is a research aid; the linked source controls.
Additional sources
45 CFR 164.506 is the workhorse of the Privacy Rule: a covered entity may use or disclose PHI for its own treatment, payment, and health care operations (TPO) without obtaining an authorization. It may also disclose PHI to another covered entity for that entity's treatment activities, for payment activities, or for limited health care operations purposes when both entities have a relationship with the individual.
"Treatment" includes provision, coordination, or management of care, consultations, and referrals. "Payment" covers billing, claims management, collection, premium calculation, and similar activities. "Health care operations" is the broadest category — quality assessment, case management, credentialing, training, business planning, and certain audits.
The minimum necessary standard applies to TPO except for treatment-related disclosures to other providers. The Notice of Privacy Practices required by 164.520 must describe the TPO uses. Practices must also honor any reasonable restriction requests they have agreed to under 164.522(a).
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D3rx is a healthcare-billing and compliance research aid maintained by D3rx Inc. Articles are drafted by an LLM (Anthropic Claude) against primary HHS, OCR, CMS, eCFR, NIST, and state-regulator publications, and reviewed for restraint and source fidelity by the D3rx team.
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Related across the archive
- RegulationHIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (45 CFR 164.520)Covered entities must provide a Notice of Privacy Practices describing how PHI may be used and disclosed and the individual's rights, with specific delivery and posting requirements.
- RegulationHIPAA Minimum Necessary Standard (45 CFR 164.502(b))Covered entities must make reasonable efforts to limit PHI uses, disclosures, and requests to the minimum necessary for the intended purpose, with specific carve-outs for treatment and a few other categories.
- RegulationHIPAA Privacy Rule: General Rules for Uses and Disclosures (45 CFR 164.502)The general rules covered entities follow for any use or disclosure of protected health information, including the minimum necessary standard and treatment, payment, and operations exceptions.
- ComplianceAnnual HIPAA Training Curriculum (What to Cover + How to Document)A 2026 annual HIPAA training curriculum for small healthcare practices — eight required modules under 45 CFR 164.530(b) and 45 CFR 164.308(a)(5), with documentation templates.
- GlossaryTreatment, Payment, and Operations (TPO)The three categories of permitted PHI use and disclosure that do not require patient authorization.
- SRAHIPAA Security Rule vs Privacy Rule: A Plain-English MapWhat the Security Rule at 45 CFR Part 164 Subpart C does, what the Privacy Rule at Subpart E does, where they overlap, and which rule the SRA actually answers to.
- ComplianceNotice of Privacy Practices (NPP) Template — 2026A 2026 Notice of Privacy Practices template aligned to 45 CFR 164.520, with every required header, the post-Dobbs reproductive-health content, and CMIA/HB 300 carveouts.
- BillingBusiness Associate Agreement Checklist for Small PracticesA working checklist for small practices to identify which vendors need a Business Associate Agreement, what clauses the BAA must contain, and how to track them.
Last reviewed May 23, 2026 · Citation verified May 23, 2026
Research aid, not legal advice. This summary is an administrative research aid prepared by D3rx. It does not certify compliance, provide legal advice, replace counsel, or guarantee an audit outcome. For authoritative regulatory text follow the primary source link at the top of this page. The practice remains responsible for reviewing, adopting, and maintaining its compliance program.