What is a chapter on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) doing in a handbook on clinical engineering? This is an understandable question! Judging solely by the name, most readers would understandably expect to find a discussion on health insurance and finance. But scratch the surface and you will actually find the most significant piece of health care legislation since Medicare was signed into law in 1965. Look further into the labyrinth of legislation and associated rules, and you will find that HIPAA introduces standards that will require broad changes in our health care operations as well in as the way we adopt and implement technology