PHI & Data
Expert Determination Method
A HIPAA de-identification method where a qualified expert certifies re-identification risk is very small.
The Expert Determination method is one of two HIPAA-approved approaches to de-identification. Instead of removing a fixed list of identifiers, a person with appropriate statistical and scientific expertise evaluates the data and certifies that the risk of re-identifying an individual is very small.
This method offers more flexibility than Safe Harbor, since it can retain more analytically useful detail, but it requires documented expert analysis of the specific dataset and its intended recipients. The identifiers it must account for are the 18 HIPAA identifiers.