What is HIPAA and why is audit trail monitoring essential in health informatics?

• A. HIPAA protects patient privacy; audit trails document who accessed or modified health information, enabling accountability and breach detection.
• B. HIPAA is unrelated to patient privacy; audit trails are optional.
• C. Audit trails monitor staff hours; HIPAA is a billing protocol.
• D. HIPAA requires open access to records; audit trails remove access logs.

Answer: (C)