What type of data may require special handling under HIPAA?

Protected Health Information (PHI) is any information that can be used to identify an individual and is related to their health condition, the provision of health care, or the payment for health care. Under HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), PHI is given particular protection because it contains sensitive information that could lead to privacy breaches if mishandled.

This includes names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers, medical records, and any other identifiers that could be linked back to an individual. Because of this sensitive nature, organizations are required to implement stringent safeguards to protect PHI from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.

In contrast, statistical analysis outcomes, sample sizes and methodologies, and control group data generally do not contain identifiable personal information about individuals and thus do not fall under the same requirements for special handling as PHI.