PHI
Protected Health Information, any individually identifiable health information covered by HIPAA privacy and security rules.
PHI includes 18 identifier types: names, dates, phone numbers, emails, SSNs, medical record numbers, health plan IDs, and more. Any system that stores, processes, or transmits PHI must comply with HIPAA Security Rule safeguards (administrative, physical, technical). In integration work, PHI appears in nearly every message. De-identification (removing or generalizing the 18 identifiers) is required before using clinical data for research or analytics without patient authorization.
FAQ
- What counts as PHI?
- Any health information that can identify an individual: names, dates, geographic data, phone numbers, email addresses, SSNs, medical record numbers, biometric data, photos, and more — 18 categories total under HIPAA.