Final answer:
Personal Health Information (PHI) is information that is protected under HIPAA and includes a range of identifiable health information. The correct answer to the question which is considered PHI is c. Personal Health Information. HIPAA requires the confidentiality of PHI and mandates that healthcare providers and insurers protect this sensitive information.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term Personal Health Information (PHI) refers to information that is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which includes a wide range of individually identifiable health information held by covered entities such as healthcare providers and health insurance companies. PHI is information, including demographic data, that relates to the individual's past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition, the provision of healthcare to the individual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of healthcare to the individual, and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual. Therefore, the answer to the question of which of the following is considered PHI is c. Personal Health Information.
Legal considerations, including the potential violation of privacy rights, must be accounted for when handling PHI. HIPAA mandates the protection of PHI to ensure that an individual's health information is not improperly disclosed. In certain cases, such as contacting a patient's sexual partners in the event of a sexually transmitted disease, ethical considerations must also be weighed against legal requirements to protect PHI.