A Primer on Protecting Health Information

A Primer on Protecting Health Information

Everything you need to know about PHI and de-identification (but were too afraid to ask)

With the growing use of electronic medical records, prevalence of electronic insurance claims processing and other hospital software systems, the amount of health data being collected is burgeoning. Some of the best standards for safeguarding privacy of personal information exist in the healthcare sector, with many jurisdictions – including the United States, Canada and the European Union – already having legislation in place.

Beyond the provision of patient care, this information can be invaluable in driving innovative research and providing new insights to address challenging healthcare problems. Unlocking PHI for secondary purposes means that health data can be used for researchanalyticscertificationcommercializationand more. While the potential for great benefits is high, so are the risks.

Organizations need to focus on protecting their data holdings now more than ever. Ponemon called 2014 ‘a Year of Mega Breaches’, and so far, 2015 is not shaping up any better. Risks to data privacy can come not only from external threats, like hackers and criminals, but also from inadvertent data leaks and security vulnerabilities. In addition to the legal ramifications, data beaches can also impact an organization’s finances and reputation. De-identification allows for the sharing of personal health information by protecting individual privacy. By de-identifying a dataset, the chance that a person can be identified from their data is drastically reduced. In the event of a data breach, de-identification can significantly minimize the impact.

When implementing a de-identification solution, organizations can opt for a homegrown approach, engage a de-identification expert to act as a consultant, or they can purchase commercially available software that can automate the process. The white paper, De-Identification 101, acts as a primer on protecting health information. To understand more about this challenge, download your copy today.

Archiving / Destroying

Are you unleashing the full value of data you retain?

Your Challenges

Do you need help...

OUR SOLUTION

Value Retention

Client Success

Client: Comcast

Situation: California’s Consumer Privacy Act inspired Comcast to evolve the way in which they protect the privacy of customers who consent to share personal information with them.

Evaluating

Are you achieving intended outcomes from data?

Your Challenge

Do you need help...

OUR SOLUTION

Unbiased Results

Client Success

Client: Integrate.ai

Situation: Integrate.ai’s AI-powered tech helps clients improve their online experience by sharing signals about website visitor intent. They wanted to ensure privacy remained fully protected within the machine learning / AI context that produces these signals.

Accessing

Do the right people have the right data?

Your Challenges

Do you need help...

OUR SOLUTION

Usable and Reusable Data

Client Success

Client: Novartis

Situation: Novartis’ digital transformation in drug R&D drives their need to maximize value from vast stores of clinical study data for critical internal research enabled by their data42 platform.

 

Maintaining

Are you empowering people to safely leverage trusted data?

Your Challenges

Do you need help...

OUR SOLUTION

Security / compliance efficiency

CLIENT SUCCESS

Client: ASCO’s CancerLinQ

Situation: CancerLinQ™, a subsidiary of American Society of Clinical Oncology, is a rapid learning healthcare system that helps oncologists aggregate and analyze data on cancer patients to improve care. To achieve this goal, they must de-identify patient data provided by subscribing practices across the U.S.

 

Acquiring / Collecting

Are you acquiring the right data? Do you have appropriate consent?

Your Challenge

Do you need help...

OUR SOLUTIONS

Consent / Contracting strategy

Client Success

Client: IQVIA

Situation: Needed to ensure the primary market research process was fully compliant with internal policies and regulations such as GDPR. 

 

Planning

Are You Effectively Planning for Success?

Your Challenges

Do you need help...

OUR SOLUTION

Build privacy in by design

Client Success

Client: Nuance

Situation: Needed to enable AI-driven product innovation with a defensible governance program for the safe and responsible use
of voice-to-text data under Shrems II.

 

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