{"id":2383,"date":"2026-08-28T13:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dotcode.pro\/?glossary-term=protected-health-information"},"modified":"2026-08-28T13:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:37:07","slug":"protected-health-information","status":"publish","type":"glossary-term","link":"https:\/\/dotcode.pro\/?glossary-term=protected-health-information","title":{"rendered":"Protected Health Information (PHI)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Protected Health Information is any individually identifiable health data created or handled by a covered entity or its business associate &#8211; medical records, payment history, even a name paired with a diagnosis. HIPAA defines 18 specific identifiers that, combined with health information, turn ordinary data into PHI subject to strict handling rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why it matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing exactly what counts as PHI determines what a system has to encrypt, log, and restrict &#8211; treating everything as equally sensitive wastes engineering effort, while under-classifying data creates real compliance exposure. Analytics and product teams especially tend to underestimate how easily de-identified data becomes PHI again once it&#8217;s combined with other fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Dotcode applies it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We map PHI flows through a system during architecture planning &#8211; what touches it, what stores it, what can be de-identified &#8211; before deciding on encryption and access design, using the same handling principles covered in <a href=\"https:\/\/dotcode.pro\/glossary\/hipaa-compliance\/\">our HIPAA Compliance glossary entry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read our <a href=\"https:\/\/dotcode.pro\/blog\/healthcare-data-security-best-practices\/\">Healthcare Data Security Best Practices<\/a> guide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Any individually identifiable health data subject to strict HIPAA protection, encryption, and audit requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - 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