Protected Health Information under HIPAA encompasses any individually identifiable health information in any form — electronic, paper, or oral — and its protection requires covered entities and business associates to implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that prevent unauthorised access, disclosure, or modification of patient data. The convergence of PHI across EHR systems, medical devices, telehealth platforms, and third-party analytics services has dramatically expanded the PHI protection perimeter, making Zero Trust identity controls and encrypted data flows the only scalable approach to maintaining HIPAA compliance across complex healthcare ecosystems.
Related: HIPAA · HITECH · Healthcare · EHR · DCT