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Section 164.514(b)

"The following identifiers of the individual or of relatives, employers, or household members of the individual, are removed:

...

(B) All geographic subdivisions smaller than a state, including street address, city, county, precinct, ZIP code, and their equivalent geocodes, except for the initial three digits of the ZIP code

(C) All elements of dates (except year) for dates that are directly related to an individual, including birth date, admission date, discharge date, death date, and all ages over 89 and all elements of dates (including year) indicative of such age, except that such ages and elements may be aggregated into a single category of age 90 or older

... "

This the "Safe Harbor" method.

You could use the "Expert Determination" method. However, date + time + location attached to health information in your first data set definitely doesn't meet the criteria. I'll eat my hat if you find a supposed "non-PHI" data set with those.

In fact, the criteria for expert determination is literally that re-identification cannot be performed (without already having PHI-type information).




Yea this was my impression too. I've worked with HIPAA data and usually I had to remove far more than just like a "name" for it to be de-identified.




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