Washington Healthcare Compliance.
Washington's MHMDA is the most aggressive consumer-health privacy regime in the country — opt-in consent for collection and sharing of any consumer health data outside HIPAA's scope, a geofencing prohibition around healthcare facilities, and a private right of action. For a clinical practice, MHMDA mostly catches adjacent surfaces: patient-engagement tools, marketing pixels, wellness add-ons, employer health programs. The 30-day breach notice clock applies in parallel.
At a glance
30days
Wash. Rev. Code § 19.255.010 requires notice within 30 days of discovery. AG notice required when >500 residents affected. My Health My Data Act (MHMDA) imposes consent-based obligations on consumer health data outside HIPAA.
Washington Attorney General
- Washington Data Breach Notification StatuteWash. Rev. Code §§ 19.255.005 – 19.255.020
30-day individual notice from discovery; AG notice when >500 residents affected; covers personal information including medical history.
- Washington My Health My Data Act (MHMDA)Wash. Rev. Code §§ 19.373.005 et seq.
Requires opt-in consent for collection, sharing, and sale of consumer health data outside HIPAA's PHI scope. Includes a private right of action. Effective March 31, 2024.
- HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules45 CFR Parts 160 & 164
The federal baseline that all U.S. covered entities and business associates meet. HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces.
How Washington goes further than HIPAA.
The breach window in Washington is 30 days — shorter than HIPAA’s federal 60-day individual-notice deadline. Practices serving Washington residents need a breach playbook tuned to the state clock, not the federal one. Notice flows through Washington Attorney General in addition to HHS/OCR federally.
Related compliance guides
Turn this overlay into a defensible SRA.
Washington's overlay layers on top of HIPAA's federal floor. The free SRA readiness check walks a small practice through discovery, threat model, controls, and gap analysis, then assembles the review-ready binder — policies, training logs, BAAs, and a breach playbook tuned to the 30-day clock and the Washington Attorney General notification path.
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.
Reviewer status: a named credentialed reviewer (CHC, CHPC, or healthcare attorney) is being engaged. Until that engagement is finalized, this page does not claim credentialed review.
Related across the archive
- ComplianceWashington's My Health My Data Act: Healthcare Practice ImplicationsWashington My Health My Data Act (RCW 19.373) vs HIPAA: broad consumer health data scope, geofence ban, private right of action, and where it reaches non-HIPAA data.
- ComplianceHIPAA Breach Notification: The 60-Day Window Step-by-StepFrom discovery you have 60 calendar days to notify individuals, HHS, and possibly media. Here is the procedure that actually protects the practice.
- RegulationCalifornia Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA, Cal. Civ. Code 56-56.37)California state law providing broader patient confidentiality protections than HIPAA for medical information held by providers, contractors, and certain employers.
- RegulationColorado Privacy Act (CPA, C.R.S. § 6-1-1301 et seq.)Colorado comprehensive consumer privacy law with consumer rights, controller/processor obligations, universal opt-out mechanism requirement, and an AG enforcement framework with HIPAA carve-outs.
- RegulationConnecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA, Public Act 22-15)Connecticut comprehensive consumer data privacy law with consumer rights, controller/processor obligations, and an AG enforcement framework — with substantial healthcare carve-outs.
- RegulationFlorida Information Protection Act (FIPA, Fla. Stat. § 501.171)Florida data breach notification and information security law requiring covered entities to maintain reasonable security and to notify affected individuals and the AG of breaches within 30 days.
- RegulationIllinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA, 740 ILCS 14)Illinois state law regulating the collection, retention, use, and destruction of biometric identifiers, with a private right of action and statutory damages per violation.
- RegulationMassachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 (Standards for the Protection of Personal Information)Massachusetts data security regulation requiring a written information security program (WISP) protecting personal information of MA residents, with specific technical requirements.
Last reviewed May 23, 2026.
This page is a research aid for compliance teams. It does not certify compliance with any state or federal law, provide legal advice, replace counsel, or guarantee an audit outcome. State statutes are amended frequently — verify citations and links against the cited primary sources before acting. The practice remains responsible for adopting and maintaining its compliance program.