What is Protected Health Information (PHI)?

Protected Health Information (PHI) refers specifically to individually identifiable health information that is held or transmitted by a covered entity or its business associate related to a patient’s health condition, care, or payment for care. This definition encompasses a broad range of health data that can identify an individual, including names, addresses, birth dates, social security numbers, and medical records, regardless of the form in which this information is stored—whether electronic, paper, or oral.

The inclusion of "individually identifiable" is crucial because it highlights the protection afforded to data that can be traced back to a specific person. This is fundamentally important in the context of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which establishes the rules for protecting PHI.

The other options do not accurately capture the full scope of what constitutes PHI. Information related to mental health can be a part of PHI if it is identifiable, but not all mental health information qualifies alone. Public health data that does not require consent typically refers to information that is aggregated or anonymized, which would not meet the criteria of being individually identifiable. Finally, health information that is not electronically stored may still be PHI if it can identify an individual, regardless of the storage method.