Table 1.

Types of PHI and their risk to patient confidentiality

PHI type	Minimum disclosure	Risk
Hospital	LDS	Minimal
Age	LDS	Minimal
Date	LDS	Minimal
Doctor	LDS	Minimal
Location	Identified	High
Patient	Identified	High
ID	Identified	High
Phone	Identified	High

Minimum Disclosure refers to the level of permission typically required by an IRB. Limited Data Sets (LDS) contain features about a patient that refer to more than one patient. Identified level access almost always refers to a single patient, such as a patient name, medical record number, or phone number.