Protected Health Information
Also known as: PHI
Individually identifiable health information held or transmitted by a covered entity or its business associate, regulated in the United States under HIPAA.
Protected health information is health information that can be tied to a specific person. It is the category that triggers most of the contractual, security, and architectural requirements a healthcare vendor encounters.
The practical questions a health system will ask are narrow and predictable: does your product receive PHI, where does it go, who can see it, how long is it retained, is it used to train anything, and can that use be turned off.
The training question has become the sharpest one in the last few years and the one vendors most often answer vaguely. A clear, contractually backed answer is now a competitive advantage in evaluation, and an evasive one is increasingly a disqualifier.
B2B Med Marketing does not collect, request, or publish patient health information. This entry defines a regulated category so that buyers and vendors can discuss it accurately.