Understand the Protected Health Information (PHI) Lifecycle

What is Protected Health Information (PHI)?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law setting national standards for protecting personal health information and medical records. Under HIPAA compliance, PHI is individually identifiable health information.

So, while “Requires a cast” is health information, “Mrs. Smith requires a cast” is identifiable health information. Healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses must all protect this information, whether found in billing, treatment, or medical history documents. Business associates, such as medical answering services, must also comply.

Additionally, any identifying information included in a record set that contains PHI must also be protected. If all identifiers are removed from health information, HIPAA no longer applies.

There are three forms of PHI: physical, verbal, and electronic. ePHI refers to digital health records in electronic format. To truly understand how to protect your patients’ health information, we must address the PHI lifecycle, its journey from birth to death.

How Many Steps Are There in The Lifecycle of Phi?

The HIPAA PHI Lifecycle refers to the steps healthcare organizations must take to secure patients’ information, maintain confidentiality, and meet the legal requirements. These steps encompass the creation and collection of data, all the way to its deletion and disposal.

So, how many steps are there in the life cycle of PHI? In total, there are six. Each one plays an essential role in securing and protecting PHI. Here, we’ll explore each one separately and what they mean to healthcare organizations.

Data Creation & Collection

The first step in the PHI lifecycle is the creation and collection of your patient’s data. The foundation of their medical records, this information may include demographics, diagnostic tests, medical history, treatment plans, billing information, and more. It may be generated electronically, on paper, or verbally.

This data must be accurate when entered into systems, whether electronic health records, databases, or medical forms. To ensure this, healthcare providers use identity verification protocols and train staff in accurate data entry.

Data Storage & Access

Once created, it needs to be securely stored. These storage systems may be physical or electronic. Protecting data at this stage of the PHI lifecycle requires role-based access control, encryption, multi-factor authentication, secure servers, and trained staff.

The HIPAA law for storage and disposal of health information requires healthcare providers to retain HIPAA Compliance documentation for six years. Each state stipulates how long medical records should be retained and when they can be discarded.

Data Transmission & Sharing

A person’s healthcare data is often shared between laboratories, insurers, and healthcare providers. This data transmission must be through secure communication channels, such as secure messaging platforms and encrypted emails. These channels are designed to prevent interception by unauthorized personnel.

Data Usage & Processing

In today’s world, patients’ data may go through extensive analysis. AI and machine learning algorithms analyze data and identify patterns, forming insights and support for clinical decisions. Processing these large data sets requires the removal of all identifiers.

Healthcare providers must also obtain patient authorizations before disclosing PHI as it relates to treatments, operations, or payments.

Data Retention & Archiving

As patient data reaches the end of its retention period, it may be archived. Archived data may be securely stored for long-term retention, as often occurs in research or for legal purposes. Archiving policies to ensure the data’s integrity may include access controls and encryption.

Data Disposal & Deletion

The final step in the PHI lifecycle is disposing of it after it is no longer needed or required to be retained. So, what methods are acceptable for the destruction of protected health information?

Secure disposal prevents unauthorized access and may be achieved via secure erasure or shredding. Another data destruction method is degaussing, which permanently erases data from storage media like hard drives using a strong magnetic field.

Best Practices for Managing PHI Securely

In the simplest terms, to protect something, you must know where it is, how much you have, who it’s sent to, and how it’s transmitted. Knowing all the processes that touch it and where it’s stored is critical in securing PHI.

The first step is to know where your sensitive data is by creating an inventory. Then, you can protect it in the following ways:

• Conduct a risk assessment by identifying vulnerable areas that require additional protection. Also, make an Incident Response Plan so that you can take immediate action to limit the effects of a cyberattack should one occur.
• Use two-factor authentication and strong passwords.
• Implement security measures such as encryption, rule-based access controls, and audit trails.
• Utilize firewalls and intrusion detection systems for network security.
• Secure physical assets.
• Train employees on best cybersecurity practices. Many data breaches occur from phishing.

Why Should You Be Using Data Lifecycle Management?

One data breach can be devastating to medical practices and the people they serve. According to TechTarget, in 2024, over 168 million people were affected by healthcare data breaches. Most were attributed to hacking.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology reported that data lifecycle management in healthcare helps organizations avoid disruptive data risks. Discovering how many steps are there in the life cycle of PHI and implementing these steps ensures you’re providing the best possible patient data protection.

Protecting PHI: The Role of Medical Answering Services

Medical answering services schedule appointments, reach out to patients with reminders, and act as a virtual receptionist, an extension of the healthcare provider’s team. Because they are intrinsically tied to patient care and information, it’s essential that, as a business associate, they have stringent processes in place to protect patient data.

At notifyMD®, we were the first telephone answering service to gain HITRUST certification. This certification ensures we use the highest standards of security and safety. Because HITRUST incorporates security standards, such as HIPAA, NIST, and ISO/IEC into one cohesive framework, you can be assured that patient health information is protected and complies with HIPAA.

Our staff is regularly trained on best practices in cybersecurity, and we always use encrypted, secure communication channels, including PHI encryption in transit and at rest. Other cybersecurity measures include multi-factor authentication and access controls.

To learn more about the PHI lifecycle and enhancing the patient experience with our medical answering services, contact notifyMD® today.