Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) Practice Exam

Which of the following best describes PHI?

1. Information on providers' business operations

2. Data about healthcare costs

3. Health information that identifies an individual

4. General health trends and statistics

The correct answer is: Health information that identifies an individual

The best description of PHI, or Protected Health Information, is health information that identifies an individual. PHI encompasses any information related to an individual’s health status, the provision of health care, or payment for healthcare that can be used to identify the individual. This includes names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, medical records, and any other information that, when combined with any of the aforementioned identifiers, can be linked back to an individual. In contrast, the other options pertain to different types of information not defined as PHI. For example, information on providers' business operations typically falls under operational or administrative data, which is not protected in the same way as personal health information. Similarly, data about healthcare costs often pertains to billing and insurance practices but does not directly identify individuals unless linked to personal identifiers. General health trends and statistics refer to aggregated data that do not identify any one individual. This data is valuable for research and public health purposes but does not meet the criteria for PHI since it does not contain personally identifiable information.