Question

Jamal is a student in the health care professions class. He had a very exciting day at clinical and decided to post about it on his social media

account. He posted the following "Great day saving lives today! I did CPR and saved the patient!"
Jamal did not post his location or the patient's personal health information; however, a friend of his (Dario) saw the post and realized that his
neighbor was in a similar situation that day. Dario called his neighbor's wife and inquired as to his health. During the conversation, Dario told the
wife that his friend was there and performed the CPR. The wife reported Jamal to his program director.
Which of the following alone are considered individually identifiable health information (refer to the link in your text, www.hhs.gov)?
a. Telephone number
O b. Height and weight
O c. Name and diagnosis
d. Date of birth:
Wh

Answer 1

Individually identifiable health information includes data that can identify a patient. Name and diagnosis, telephone number, and date of birth are all considered individually identifiable, whereas height and weight by themselves are not.

Step-by-step explanation:

Considering the situation described, individually identifiable health information refers to data that can potentially be used to identify a specific individual or patient. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), this includes a wide range of personal identifiers.

In the options provided, c. Name and diagnosis would be considered individually identifiable health information because both pieces of information combined can easily identify a patient. Likewise, a. Telephone number and d. Date of birth are also considered identifiable information because they can be used on their own to identify an individual. However, b. Height and weight, in isolation, are not typically considered individually identifiable unless they are combined with other personal identifiers.