Confidentiality challenges and good clinical practices in human subjects research: striking a balance.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) has been fully implemented in clinical practice and research settings. Although subject confidentiality has always been a concern, clinical researchers must now take extra care to attend to the mandates of privacy while also minding good clinical practice guidelines. Unanticipated conflicts may arise as a result of these dual priorities. This article presents two examples of potential challenges to confidentiality with comment from the bioethical perspective.