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Standard
The 18 Protected Health Information Identifiers
Impacted Services IT Security Outreach and Training
What you need to know
The 18 Protected Health Information (PHI) Identifiers include:
- Names
- Geographic subdivisions smaller than a state, and geocodes (e.g., zip, county or city codes, street addresses)
- Dates: all elements of dates (e.g., birthdate, admission date) except year, unless an individual is 89 years old or older
- Telephone numbers
- Fax numbers
- Electronic mail addresses
- Social Security numbers
- Medical record numbers
- Health plan beneficiary numbers
- Account numbers
- Certificate/license numbers
- Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers (including license plate numbers)
- Device identifiers and serial numbers
- Web Universal Resource Locators (URL)
- Internet protocol (IP) address numbers
- Biometric identifiers (including finger or voice prints)
- Full face photographic images and any comparable images
- Any other unique identifying number, characteristic or code