Electronic Protected Health Information

ePHI

operations

Updated 5/16/2026

Definition

Individually identifiable health information created, stored, transmitted, or received in electronic form, subject to HIPAA Security Rule safeguards. Includes PHI fields in EHR databases, claims files, eligibility transactions, and data warehouses requiring encryption, access controls, and audit trail implementation by data engineers.

Standard Abbreviation

ePHI

Database Usage

-- Example column naming
CREATE TABLE claims (
  clm_id VARCHAR(50),
  ephi VARCHAR(100),  -- Electronic Protected Health Information (max 100 chars)
  ...
);

-- Example in SELECT
SELECT
  clm_id,
  ephi as electronic_protected_health_information
FROM claims;

Common uses in healthcare data

Healthcare data warehouse schema design and modeling
Interoperability and cross-system data exchange
ETL pipeline development and orchestration
Master data management (MDM) programs
Analytics and business intelligence reporting

Example database column name

ISO-11179 snake_case standard

-- Recommended column name
ephi

-- Example DDL
CREATE TABLE healthcare_data (
  record_id   VARCHAR(50)   NOT NULL,
  ephi         VARCHAR(100),  -- Electronic Protected Health Information (max 100 chars)
  created_dt  TIMESTAMP     NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW()
);

Column names follow the ISO-11179 naming convention: lowercase, underscore-separated, using the standard abbreviation as a prefix where applicable.

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