Health information such as diagnoses, treatment information, medical test results, and prescription information are considered protected health information under HIPAA
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. It was created primarily to modernize the flow of healthcare information, stipulate how Personally Identifiable Information maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft, and address lim…
How effectively are we protecting protected health information?
• When we protect patient data, we help build trust between patients and providers. • Ensure Protected Health Information (PHI) is not disclosed to unauthorized persons. • Do not send email containing Protected Health Information (PHI) unless it is encrypted. • Log off your computer if you have to leave your workstation.
What you can do to protect your health information?
What Information Is Protected
- Information your doctors, nurses, and other health care providers put in your medical record
- Conversations your doctor has about your care or treatment with nurses and others
- Information about you in your health insurer’s computer system
- Billing information about you at your clinic
What is an example of protected health information?
Which of the following are examples of health care plans HIPAA?
- Health insurance companies.
- HMOs, or health maintenance organizations.
- Employer-sponsored health plans.
- Government programs that pay for health care, like Medicare, Medicaid, and military and veterans’ health programs.
What do we mean by "protected health information"?
Protected Health Information, or PHI, is any personal health information that can potentially identify an individual, that was created, used, or disclosed in the course of providing healthcare services, whether it was a diagnosis or treatment.
What are 4 examples of protected health information?
Health information such as diagnoses, treatment information, medical test results, and prescription information are considered protected health information under HIPAA, as are national identification numbers and demographic information such as birth dates, gender, ethnicity, and contact and emergency contact ...
What is protected health information quizlet?
PHI(Protected Health Information)- All individual identifiable health information and other information on treatment or care that is transmitted or maintained in any form or medium(electronic, paper, oral.
What are considered protected health information?
Protected health information (PHI), also referred to as personal health information, is the demographic information, medical histories, test and laboratory results, mental health conditions, insurance information and other data that a healthcare professional collects to identify an individual and determine appropriate ...
What is protected under HIPAA?
The Privacy Rule protects all "individually identifiable health information" held or transmitted by a covered entity or its business associate, in any form or media, whether electronic, paper, or oral. The Privacy Rule calls this information "protected health information (PHI)."
Which of the following is an example of protected health information quizlet?
Examples of PHI Dates — Including birth, discharge, admittance, and death dates. Biometric identifiers — including finger and voice prints. Full face photographic images and any comparable images.
Which of the following is not an example of PHI?
Examples of health data that is not considered PHI: Number of steps in a pedometer. Number of calories burned. Blood sugar readings w/out personally identifiable user information (PII) (such as an account or user name)
What is not protected health information?
For example, employment records of a covered entity that are not linked to medical records. Similarly, health data that is not shared with a covered entity or is personally identifiable doesn't count as PHI. For example, heart rate readings or blood sugar level readings without PII.
Which of the following is considered PHI?
PHI is health information in any form, including physical records, electronic records, or spoken information. Therefore, PHI includes health records, health histories, lab test results, and medical bills. Essentially, all health information is considered PHI when it includes individual HIPAA identifiers.
What are the 18 identifiers of PHI?
18 HIPAA IdentifiersName.Address (all geographic subdivisions smaller than state, including street address, city county, and zip code)All elements (except years) of dates related to an individual (including birthdate, admission date, discharge date, date of death, and exact age if over 89)Telephone numbers.Fax number.More items...
Which is not protected by HIPAA?
Deidentified protected health information is not protected by HIPAA Rules. This is healthcare information that has been stripped of all identifiers that would allow an individual to be identified.
What are the 3 rules of HIPAA?
The three HIPAA rulesThe Privacy Rule.Thee Security Rule.The Breach Notification Rule.
Which of the following are covered by the HIPAA Security Rule?
The Security Rule applies to health plans, health care clearinghouses, and to any health care provider who transmits health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction for which the Secretary of HHS has adopted standards under HIPAA (the “covered entities”) and to their business associates.
What is the difference between PII, PHI, and IIHA?
PII is Personally Identifiable Information that is used outside a healthcare context, while PHI (Protected Health Information) and IIHA (Individual...
Would patient information such as “Mr. Brown from New York” be considered PHI?
Although there could be thousands of Mr. Browns in New York, there is likely no more than a handful of Mr. Kwiatowskis in Crivitz, WI. As it would...
Are email addresses that don´t reveal a person´s name considered identifiers for PHI purposes?
It is quite simple to find out who an email address such as “[email protected]“ belongs to by doing a little research on social media or using a re...
What is the difference between an allowable disclosure of PHI and an incidental disclosure?
Covered entities are allowed to disclose PHI for treatment, payment, and health care operations. An incidental disclosure is a secondary, accidenta...
How do you determine what a reasonably anticipated threat to PHI is?
All covered entities and business associates are required to conduct frequent risk analyses in order to identify threats to the integrity of PHI. I...
What is protected health information?
Protected health information is any identifiable information that appears in medical records as well as conversations between healthcare staff (such as doctors and nurses) regarding a patient’s treatment. It also includes billing information and any information that could be used to identify an individual in a company’s health insurance records. ...
Why is HIPAA important?
The role of HIPAA is to make sure your personal health information is kept private. Since most of HIPAA’s rules and regulations revolve around protecting PHI, it’s important for anyone working in healthcare to know what it is and how to handle it in order to stay in compliance with HIPAA.
What is PHI policy?
Policies and procedures that allow only authorized individuals to access PHI. Hardware or software that records and monitors access to systems that contain PHI. Procedures to maintain that PHI is not altered, destroyed, or tampered with.
What are the physical security requirements of HIPAA?
The physical security requirements outlined by HIPAA are designed to prevent physical theft and loss of devices that contain patient information. Some examples of this include: Limiting access to buildings that contain information systems like computers and servers.
What is HIPAA compliance?
Under the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, healthcare organizations are required to secure patient information that’s stored or transferred digitally. These requirements are designed to protect our PHI from things like data breaches or hackers. Organizations are also legally required to maintain their HIPAA compliance by monitoring changes in the law and upgrading outdated technologies.
What is PHI in medical terms?
Payments/ bills. Photographs. Diagnostic codes. It’s important to know that PHI also includes information that’s not current. For example, an old phone number, address, or driver's license number is still considered protected health information.
What are the identifiers for PHI?
The identifiers that make health information PHI are: Patient Name (full or last name and initial) Date of birth. Address (anything more specific than state, including street address, city, county, precinct, and in most cases zip code, and their equivalent geocodes) Social security number. Phone/fax number. Email address.
What is protected health information?
Protected health information “Relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual; the provision of health care to an individual; or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual” that is: Transmitted or maintained in any other form or medium.
What is HIPAA protection?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires covered entities to implement safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information, but what is protected health information? First, it is worthwhile explaining two other important terms detailed in HIPAA regulations: A covered ...
What is HIPAA Privacy?
The HIPAA Privacy Rules stipulates allowable uses and disclosures of PHI and gives patients the right to obtain a copy of the PHI that is held by their healthcare providers. HealthIT can be used to help patients access their PHI.
What is HIPAA security rule?
The HIPAA Security Rule requires safeguards to be implemented by HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates to protect PHI that is created, used, received, stored, or transmitted in electronic format.
How many identifiers are there in HIPAA?
There are 18 identifiers that can be used to identify, contact, or locate a person. If health information is used with any of these identifiers it is ...
What is a covered entity?
A covered entity is a healthcare provider, health plan, or healthcare clearinghouse which transmits health data electronically for transactions that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has adopted standards. A business associate is an organization or individual who performs services on behalf of a HIPAA-covered entity ...
Is PHI health app HIPAA?
If a physician recommends a PHI health app be used by a patient , such as for tracking BMI or heart rate data, the information is not subject to HIPAA Rules as the app was not created for the physician.
What is the purpose of HIPAA?
There are three main purposes which include: 1. To protect and enhance the rights of consumers by providing them access to their health information and controlling the inappropriate use of that information; 2.
What is PHI in healthcare?
Protected health information. Protected health information ( PHI) under the U.S. law is any information about health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that is created or collected by a Covered Entity (or a Business Associate of a Covered Entity), and can be linked to a specific individual.
What is PHI law?
In general, U.S. law governing PHI applies to data collected in the course of providing and paying for health care. Privacy and security regulations govern how healthcare professionals, hospitals, health insurers, and other Covered Entities use and protect the data they collect. It is important to understand that the source ...
Why do researchers remove PHI from a dataset?
Researchers remove individually identifiable PHI from a dataset to preserve privacy for research participants . There are many forms of PHI, with the most common being physical storage in the form of paper-based personal health records (PHR). Other types of PHI include electronic health records, wearable technology, and mobile applications.
What was the FTC complaint in LabMD?
v. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC filed a complaint against medical testing laboratory LabMD, Inc. alleging that the company failed to reasonably protect the security of consumers’ personal data, including medical information. The FTC alleged that in two separate incidents, LabMD collectively exposed the personal information of approximately 10,000 consumers. The court vacated the original cease-and-desist order, stating that it would "mandate a complete overhaul of LabMD’s data-security program and says little about how this is to be accomplished.”
What is the purpose of de-identification and anonymization?
The purpose of de-identification and anonymization is to use health care data in larger increments, for research purposes. Universities, government agencies, and private health care entities use such data for research, development and marketing purposes.
Is fitness tracking a PHI?
Health and fitness tracking capabilities are a target for companies producing wearable technology. Privacy concerns for consumers arise when these technology companies are not considered covered entities or business associates under HIPAA or where the health information collected is not PHI.
Overview
Protected health information (PHI) under the U.S. law is any information about health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that is created or collected by a Covered Entity (or a Business Associate of a Covered Entity), and can be linked to a specific individual. This is interpreted rather broadly and includes any part of a patient's medical record or payment history.
Instead of being anonymized, PHI is often sought out in datasets for de-identification before rese…
United States
Under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), PHI that is linked based on the following list of 18 identifiers must be treated with special care:
1. Names
2. All geographical identifiers smaller than a state, except for the initial three digits of a zip code if, according to the current publicly available data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census: the geographic unit formed by combining all zip codes with the same three initial digits cont…
Under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), PHI that is linked based on the following list of 18 identifiers must be treated with special care:
1. Names
2. All geographical identifiers smaller than a state, except for the initial three digits of a zip code if, according to the current publicly available data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census: the geographic unit formed by combining all zip codes with the same three initial digits contains mo…
Protected health information storage
Protected health information can be stored in many different forms. According to HIPAA, there are many requirements and limitations regarding how PHI can be stored.
Until recently, physical storage has been the most common method of storing PHI. Physical safeguards for PHI include storing paper records in locked cabinets and enabling a control over the records. A security authority, PIN pad, or identification card could all be necessary to access …
Patient Privacy
In a study conducted by researchers, 14 patients were asked for their opinions on privacy concerns and healthcare perceptions. Researchers found that all participants agreed on the importance of healthcare privacy. Participants demonstrated a vague understanding of the legislated patient privacy rights. There were differing opinions on whose responsibility it should be to protect health information; some thought it was their own responsibility, while others thought …
Concerns with PHI
1. Phishing
2. Eavesdropping
3. Brute-force attacks
4. Selective forwarding
5. Sinkhole threats
See also
• General Data Protection Regulation
• Personally identifiable information
• Electronic health records
Further reading
• Full text of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (PDF/TXT) U.S. Government Printing Office