There are regulations and exceptions involved in HIPPA in the use of partial medical records in study research (Krishna, Kelleher & Stahlberg, 2007). For instance, in the U.S, present privacy provision on the use of protected health data for research purposes under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) split medical records in 3 phases: identified data, de-identified data and limited data. Access to such data requires explicit consent by study participants or a waiver of the consent requirement by an IRB (Krishna, Kelleher & Stahlberg, 2007). As we explored current regulations on patient confidentiality, there is need to identify data in research, and the usefulness of de-identification and data security (Agency For Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.). Additionally, de-identified data is data with many of such identity information detached. HIPAA provides a specific list of 18 data elements that must negligibly be uninvolved, and these data may be used freely (Krishna, Kelleher & Stahlberg, 2007).
Agency For Healthcare Research and Quality (n.d.). Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data: Standardization for Health Care Quality Improvement. Retrieved from https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/final-reports/iomracereport/reldata5.html
Krishna, R., Kelleher, K., & Stahlberg, E. (2007). Patient confidentiality in the research use of clinical medical databases. American journal of public health, 97(4), 654-658.
