Health Data Protection: PDPL, GDPR and HIPAA Compared

1. Program overview

Nearly every health data protection course teaches one jurisdiction — usually HIPAA. Healthcare organisations in the Gulf, Europe and internationally routinely deal with two or three at once. This course teaches the shared principles first — lawful basis, minimisation, retention, breach duties, individual rights — then compares how Saudi Arabia's PDPL, the European GDPR and the US HIPAA framework each implement them, including where they conflict. It covers practical questions: sharing with relatives, research and secondary use, cross-border transfer, cloud storage, and the breach clock. Saudi PDPL is now actively enforced with short response windows.

2. Why this program

• Three regimes taught side by side.
• Shared principles first, differences second.
• Practical scenarios: relatives, research, cloud, transfer.
• Includes breach response timelines.

3. Who it is for

Healthcare Manager · Medical Secretary · Nurse · Physician · Quality Officer · Lab Technician

4. Program objectives

• Explain the shared principles underlying modern health data protection law
• Identify a lawful basis for a described processing activity
• Apply data minimisation and retention principles to clinical records
• Compare PDPL, GDPR and HIPAA on the points where they differ materially
• Respond correctly to an individual's request about their own data
• Execute the first steps of a suspected data breach response

5. Learning outcomes

• Identify the lawful basis applicable to a described processing activity
• Differentiate the obligations of PDPL, GDPR and HIPAA for a given scenario
• Apply minimisation to a described data-sharing request
• Evaluate a cross-border transfer for compliance risk
• Apply the correct first response and timeline to a suspected breach
• Recommend a retention approach for a specified record type

6. Curriculum

1. Module 1: The Shared Principles

   • The Shared Principles

2. Module 2: Three Regimes Compared

   • Three Regimes Compared

3. Module 3: Everyday Scenarios

   • Everyday Scenarios

4. Module 4: Research and Secondary Use

   • Research and Secondary Use

5. Module 5: Cross-Border and Cloud

   • Cross-Border and Cloud

6. Module 6: Breach Response

   • Breach Response

7. Duration and structure

Total study hours: 3.5 — 2.75h content + 0.75h assessment. Duration is expressed in study hours only.

9. What you receive

This certificate confirms completion of Health Data Protection: PDPL, GDPR and HIPAA Compared. Duration is expressed in study hours.

10. Delivery format

Self-paced · start any time · any device · lifetime access to the enrolled version.