Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) defines protected health information (PHI) as any health information that can be used in identifying an individual that is transmitted or stored by a covered entity and its associates relating to the patient’s health, be it future, past or present (Moore & Frye, 2019). The protected health information includes the patient’s demographic information, whether transmitted electronically or using paper. The HIPPA rules outline how professionals should handle such data so as to avoid breaking the laid down rules. Data collection is a vital part of a research project. Hence researchers should use appropriate strategies to collect data. One of the most important things to consider during data collection is the protected health information. As such, a plan should be made such that the collection process of this data does not negatively impact the project (Krahe et al., 2019). In addition, strategies should timeously be made to help protect the collected data.
The collection of protected health information would substantially affect my project. For example, in the event that I have to collect protected health information, then I will have to follow the laid down rules described in the HIPPA Act (Anderson, 2019). I will also have to obtain necessary documentation, such as consent forms where the patients or the participants have to offer permission for their PHI to be collected and analyzed during the research. It is also important to appropriately store this data and prevent data theft or loss. Therefore, the collected data should only be accessed by authorized individuals. For better storage, coding will be used to help hide the obvious identity of the patients. It will also be important to use passwords on computers and devices where the PHI will be stored, as this will prevent any unauthorized access. The password will only be shared with individuals authorized to access the information to help maintain privacy.
Anderson, C. L. (2019). Data breaches and electronic personal health information (ePHI): What is injury-in-fact and does HIPAA set a negligence standard of care? Journal of Legal Medicine, 39(3), 263–277.https://doi.org/10.1080/01947648.2019.1653695
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