Security Safeguards
Emergency Access Procedure
A documented way to reach ePHI during an emergency without weakening normal controls.
An Emergency Access Procedure is a required HIPAA Security Rule access-control element: a documented method for obtaining necessary ePHI during an emergency, such as a system outage or disaster.
The goal is to preserve availability of patient data when it is most critical, without abandoning security. Emergency access is typically logged and reviewed afterward, and is closely tied to an organization's contingency plan. It belongs in the contingency plan covered in HIPAA backup and disaster recovery.