Public Health Information (PHI)
What is Public Health Information (PHI)?
According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), protected health information (PHI) is any information that can be used to identify an individual, which personally relates to their past, present, or future health. PHI is generated as part of a healthcare related operation (treatment, testing, payment, insurance filing) covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).
PHI is a subset of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) - see defintiion below.
What are the federal regulations for PHI?
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule established national standards to protect individuals' electronic personal health information that is created, received, used, or maintained by a covered entity.
The Security Rule is located at 45 CFR Part 160 and Subparts A and C of Part 164
What does a researcher need to do if they want to create or use PHI?
Resources for researchers who want to create or use PHI should:
- Contact the Office of Research Compliance to ensure that they have the appropriate human subjects approvals for their research.
- Enter into the appropriate - read about Data Use Agreement
- De-identify data wherever possible, read about Honest Broker Services