The HIPAA safe harbor provision is a component of the HIPAA privacy rule. This rule limits the possible utilization of protected health information. De-identification involves the removal of specific information concerning a patient that can be utilized alone or in combination with other information for the identification of a patient. The safe harbor method includes a list of eighteen identifiers such as names, geographic subdivisions, elements of dates, and telephone numbers. This list of eighteen HIPAA identifiers that are included in the safe harbor method is sufficient for the de-identification of patients. However, an adjustment can be made to the safe harbor method to make it more efficient in preventing the re-identification of patients.
One of the reasons that the safe harbor method is sufficient for de-identification is through the increase of personal privacy in healthcare information and decision-making. Through its inclusion of several identifiers, this method ensures that personal privacy for information is protected at different levels. By removing personal information such as unique identifying numbers, telephone numbers, and fax numbers, the privacy of the information can be protected as there can be no channel for accessing them. This means that the risk that the patient faces in regards to their information being used for their identification as individuals is minimized (Iguchi et al., 2018). All eighteen identifiers within the safe harbor method can be applied to ensure that an individual cannot be re-identified through their personal information.
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Another way that the safe harbor method supports the proper de-identification of patients is through the prevention of any form of discrimination. To limit the effect of pre-existing conditions for people when receiving healthcare services, conditions such as medical record numbers, names, and full-face photographic images are limited. Hence, when deciding whether to provide services such as health insurance coverage, personally identifiable factors may not be utilized to discriminate against the patients involved. The safe harbor method is in line with the privacy rule by properly defining individually identifiable health information.
Through the 18 identifiers defined within this method, the history and description of the health conditions of a patient are protected. Once the specific identifiers have been defined, such as biometric identifiers and all elements of dates related to an individual are limited. This supports the provision of healthcare to an individual while also protecting the demographic data associated with all forms of payments to support healthcare to individuals. Once the specified identifiers of the patient have been removed, then there is no actual knowledge that can be used for the identification of the patient (Iguchi et al., 2018). Based on the safe harbor method, the elimination of the 18 personal identifiers ensures that the remaining medical information cannot be used to re-identify the patient.
However, while the 18 identifiers are essential in protecting the identities and personal information of patients, it does not assure that full de-identification will occur according to the HIPAA privacy rule. For full de-identification to take place, experts with relevant knowledge and experience with the needed scientific principles and techniques for making information unidentifiable. While the safe harbor method ensures that the personal information of individuals is protected, there are still several improvements that can be made to improve its applicability. Hence, as opposed to including additional personal identifiers to the method, an expert or professional should be included to promote the reliability of the method.
Reference
Iguchi, M., Uematsu, T., & Fujii, T. (2018, September). The Anatomy of the HIPAA Privacy Rule: A Risk-Based Approach as a Remedy for Privacy-Preserving Data Sharing. In International Workshop on Security (pp. 174-189). Springer, Cham.
