Privacy and Access to Information

University Records

Access to Records

Members of the public may access records held by the University of California, Irvine by submitting a request to the Public Records Office (PRO).

Under the California Public Records Act (CPRA)  “every person has a right to inspect any public record” (Govt. Code § 6253(a)). This right of access is guaranteed by the CPRA under the principle that, as a public institution, the University's business is subject to public scrutiny. However, certain information is protected and exempt from release under the CPRA and personal privacy is largely protected under the   California Information Practices Act of 1977 (IPA), the   Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and the   Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Additionally, with very limited exceptions, every individual has broad access rights to records containing personal information about themselves under the   California Information Practices Act of 1977 (IPA). The   PRO  can provide additional information about the request process and the types of information that are typically disclosable or exempt.

Requests for records held by the University may be made to the PRO under the CPRA or the IPA.

If you would like to make a records request, or if you are a University employee and have received a records request, please direct your correspondence directly to the PRO via email at pra@uci.edu, by fax at (949) 725-2862, or by phone at (949) 824-9639. Requests may also be mailed to us at:

University of California, Irvine
Attn: Public Records Office
Irvine, CA 92697-1430

Please see the PRO's " How to Make a Request" and " For UCI Employees" pages for more information.

Student Records

The UCI University Registrar's office is responsible for student records.

Medical Records / Health Information

The University must comply with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requirements. These govern the provision of health benefits, the delivery of and payment for healthcare services, and the security and confidentiality of individually identifiable, protected health information (PHI). Protected information may be in any written, electronic, or oral formats collected by University employees in the course of patient care activities at:

UC Irvine Medical Center
College of Health Sciences
Student Health Center
Counseling Center

Other academic and service units that provide treatment, generate or use PHI, conduct electronic billing using PHI, or otherwise have access to such information in the course or scope of the work of the unit or the individual employee.

The "Privacy Rule" refers to the Department of Health & Human Services regulation, Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, which is applicable to entities covered by HIPAA. The privacy provisions of HIPAA apply to health information created or maintained by health care providers who engage in certain electronic transactions, health plans, and health care clearinghouses. (State laws with stronger privacy protections take precedence over and above the HIPAA Privacy Rule.)

HIPAA may also affect research that uses, creates, or discloses PHI. Researchers have legitimate needs to use, access, and disclose PHI to carry out a wide range of health research studies. The Privacy Rule creates standards that protect a patient or member's medical records and personal health information while providing ways for researchers to access and use PHI when necessary to conduct research.