The MSDW team offers de-identified data through Leaf, Atlas, and TriNetX, and follow Mount Sinai’s policy on the de-identification of protected health information.  Mount Sinai has a duty to protect the confidentiality and integrity of Protected Health Information (PHI) as required by law and professional ethics, and for accreditation requirements.

A de-identified data set is assembled for research project requests by executing the steps below:

• • MRN numbers are mapped to the MSDW ‘mrn masking table’ and the MRN is replaced in the output with the masked version.
  • If requested, Encounter Visit IDs are mapped to the MSDW masked ‘visit id table’ and the Visit ID is replaced in the output with the masked version.
  • If requested, Encounter Sub Visit IDs are mapped to the MSDW masked ‘sub visit id table’ and the Sub Visit ID is replaced in the output with the masked version.

Once complete, all elements of date in the data set are shifted equally per patient, based on the date shift value present in the ‘masked mrn table’. This ensures that relative distance between dates in the patients’ chronology remain intact.

In addition to the steps outlined above, the following 19 data elements are de-identified for data sets produced, in accordance with the Guidance Regarding Methods for De-identification of Protected Health Information in Accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.

• • Name
  • Street Address, city, county, zip code (the first three digits of the zip code may be used if there are more than 20,000 people in the zip code)
  • All element of dates (except year), including dates of birth, admission, discharge or death
  • All ages over 89
  • All telephone numbers
  • Fax number
  • E-mail addresses
  • Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Medical Record Number (MRN)
  • Health plan beneficiary number
  • Account numbers
  • Certificate/License number
  • Vehicle identifiers, including license plate numbers
  • Device identification and/or serial number
  • Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
  • Internet Protocol (IP) address
  • Biometric identifiers, including finger and voiceprints
  • Full face photographic images and other comparable images
  • Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code

For more information contact the MSDW Team.

Please note that the MSDW team currently does not offer de-identified health information in free text fields, e.g., Progress Notes. As techniques evolve, the possibility of this data source will be revisited.