I don't think it is, at least in the US. What most people forget about HIPAA is that the P stands for "Portability". The entire point behind it was that someone

I don't think it is, at least in the US. What most people forget about HIPAA is that the P stands for "Portability". The entire point behind it was that someone should be able to take their records from one hospital, doctor's office, or imaging clinic and then bring it to another one without having to go through another scan. DICOM was the industry's response to those portability requirements that our government put into place.