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De-Identification

At Landmark, we work in compliance with HIPAA. HIPAA encourages the protection of all Personal Health Information - PHI.

Protected health information (PHI) is any information in the medical record or designated record set that can be used to identify an individual and that was created, used, or disclosed in the course of providing a health care service such as diagnosis or treatment.

HIPAA provides a list of 18 identifiers that make health information PHI.

These are:

  • Names
  • Dates, except year(s).
  • Telephone numbers
  • Geographic data
  • Phone/fax numbers
  • Social Security numbers
  • Email addresses
  • Medical record numbers
  • Account numbers
  • Health plan beneficiary numbers
  • Certificate/license numbers
  • Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers including license plates
  • Web URLs
  • Device identifiers and serial numbers
  • Internet protocol addresses
  • Full-face photos and comparable images*
  • Biometric identifiers (i.e. retinal scan, fingerprints)*
  • Any unique identifying number or code
  • These identifiers are not included in transcripts.

If the ticket requests the de-identification of names, locations, schools, etc., please replace using the following tags (unless instructed otherwise): etc…

  • <Name>
  • <Location>
  • <School>
  • <City>
  • <State>
  • <Hospital>
  • <Street>
  • <Business>
  • <Country>
  • etc...
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IMPORTANT
  • No need to de-identify race, gender, brands, medicines, apps, or social networks such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. unless it is instructed otherwise.
  • Do not de-identify the topic of the interview. Example: Organization and/or program.
  • In case the ticket contains notes about what needs to be de-identified, proceed to remove only what is requested in the notes. Ex: Please remove only people’s names.

There are two types of de-identification: Standard and Partial.

Standard de-identification

When a ticket shows standard de-identification, please remove all identifying nouns related to the participants. DO NOT REMOVE GENERAL INFORMATION. Check the list above.

Partial de-identification

When a ticket shows partial de-identification, please check in "Notes for de-identification" which nouns must be removed and ONLY de-identify such.

Example:

Notes for de-identification: Please remove only the names of people.

  • In this case, only the names of individuals/people must be de-identified. All other nouns such as location, businesses, organizations, etc. remain in the transcript.