Leveraging AI and ML to Secure PHI and PII Data in Healthcare Entities

AI and ML technologies have opened up significant opportunities for healthcare organizations to simplify, yet improve how they manage and protect both Protected Healthcare Information(PHI covered under HIPAA) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII covered by other state and federal regulations) in several ways.

How Does AI/ML help Protect Patient Info?

Identification and Mapping of PHI/PII: AI can be used to scan and identify where PHI/PII is stored across various systems and databases within the organization. This involves using machine learning algorithms that can recognize different types of PHI/PII, such as names, social security numbers, and medical records.

De-Identification of Data: Techniques like polymorphic encryption and tokenization can be applied to de-identify PHI/PII. This means converting identifiable data into a format that cannot be traced back to the individual without additional information that is held separately.

Monitoring and Anomaly Detection: AI systems can continuously monitor the flow of PHI/PII within the organization to detect any unusual patterns or potential breaches. This includes setting up alerts for unauthorized access or transfers of restricted data.

Compliance and Reporting: AI can help ensure that the handling of PHI/PII complies with regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and CPRA. It can automate the generation of reports and logs that document the access and use of PHI/PII, which is crucial for audits and compliance checks.

Data Masking and Anonymization: For the purpose of analytics and AI, healthcare data can be masked or anonymized to protect patient privacy while still allowing for valuable insights to be extracted from the data.

Secure Data Sharing: AI can facilitate secure data sharing for research and analytics by ensuring that only de-identified or anonymized data is shared, thus preserving patient privacy. 

Real-Time Redaction: AI solutions can provide real-time redaction of PHI/PII from documents, images, and other data formats, ensuring that sensitive information is not exposed during the sharing or analysis process3.

To monitor and manage PHI/PII effectively, healthcare organizations should implement a comprehensive AI strategy that includes these techniques and ensures that all systems are integrated and working together to protect patient data. It’s also important to keep AI models and systems up-to-date with the latest security measures and to conduct regular training for staff on the importance of PHI/PII protection.

Intelliswift Automated Data Compliance Solution

One of the tools we implement for management of PHI and PII in healthcare entities is Delphix. Here are some key capabilities of Delphix:

Automated Compliance: Delphix automates HIPAA compliance and safeguards patient data by de-identifying sensitive data across on-premises and cloud environments.

Data Masking: It provides masked data that is production-like in quality and remains fully functional for accurate development, testing, and analysis.

Data Discovery: The Delphix Data Platform automatically scans data values and metadata to pinpoint the location of confidential information subject to HIPAA.

API-First Data Platform: Delphix integrates data delivery within AI/ML workflows via API, providing data scientists with API-driven access to the right data in minutes.

Version Control for Data: It captures a continuous record of source data changes so it can deliver near real-time data, plus historical data—down to the second or transaction.

Risk Mitigation: Delphix automatically finds and masks sensitive information while preserving business semantics, referential integrity, and consistency across data sources.

These features make Delphix a comprehensive solution for healthcare organizations looking to manage PHI and PII effectively, ensuring data privacy and regulatory compliance.

Other Point Solutions for Protecting PHI/PII

There are several commercial software solutions that use AI to manage Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Here are a few:

Nightfall AI: Offers AI-Native Data Leak Prevention (DLP) for enterprises, helping to discover PII, PCI, PHI, secrets, and credentials across various apps. It also provides real-time detection and remediation to stay compliant with standards like HIPAA.

Private AI: Provides a solution for identifying, redacting, and replacing personal information entities across multiple file types and languages. It also offers PrivateGPT, which allows companies to leverage large language models without compromising privacy.

Philterd: An AI-powered deidentification and redaction software that removes PII and PHI from text, logs, and AI/ML training data within your own cloud environment.

VIDIZMO Redactor: An AI and ML-powered solution for redacting PII and PHI from videos, audio, images, and documents, ensuring data privacy and regulatory compliance.

PII Tools: Automatically detects PII, PCI, and PHI in files uploaded by clients and can mask or redact sensitive data with the help of AI. It also offers an API for real-time scanning integration into workflows5.

These tools can significantly enhance the security and management of sensitive data in healthcare organizations.

At Intelliswift Software , our healthcare domain team works closely with our Data Security, AI/ML, DevOps and Testing practices to deliver a holistic solution to our healthcare customers. Let's combine forces and tackle the challenge of protecting patient data.