Compliance & Legal
Minimum Necessary Standard
Also known as: Minimum necessary requirement
A HIPAA principle requiring access to only the minimum PHI needed to accomplish a task.
The Minimum Necessary Standard is a core HIPAA Privacy Rule principle requiring covered entities and business associates to limit the use, disclosure, and access of protected health information (PHI) to the least amount needed to accomplish the intended purpose.
In a hosting context, this principle drives access controls and role-based permissions: administrators, applications, and support staff should each be able to reach only the data their job actually requires.