Unstructured Data

Sensitive data can be found in unstructured data (free text) such as clinician notes or other narrative text. Most of the data within an unstructured field is not sensitive, but there are times when it might contain data elements you want to protect.

This generator will replace any piece of information found in another message field that is set for de-identification.

Example #1

In the following message, the name of the patient is mentioned in the patient update note (NTE.3).

If the patient name (PID.5.1 field) is listed among the de-identification rules, you can configure a new field to detect the patient name within NTE.3

Segment	Field	Component	Subcomponent	ID	Generator
PID	5 – Patient Name	1 – Family Name			Excel File
NTE	3 – Comment				Unstructured Data

 

Using these settings, the de-identified message will look like this:

 

Example #2

If the patient name (PID.2 field) is listed among the de-identification rules, you can configure a new field to detect the patient ID within NTE.3

Segment	Field	Component	Subcomponent	ID	Generator
PID	2 – Patient ID				Numeric
PID	5 – Patient Name	1 – Family Name			Excel File
NTE	3 – Comment				Unstructured Data

 

Using these settings, the de-identified message will look like this: