Medication-history de-identification is the removal of all 18 HIPAA Safe Harbor IDs (45 CFR §164.514(b)) from a patient's drug list. anonym.plus does this locally. The regimen stays readable; it no longer names the person.
When this applies
A drug list ties many medicines to one named patient over time. For research or teaching, you strip the IDs but keep the regimen and the dates' gaps.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the list in anonym.plus on your device.
- It scans for the name, dates, MRN, and contacts.
- Local OCR reads scanned pages, so printed lists are caught.
- Confirm the flags; the medicine names are not IDs and stay.
- Swap each ID for a label, or shift the dates.
- Save the clean file; the source stays on your machine.
What you need to provide
- The list (PDF, DOCX, TXT, or EHR export).
- An operator (Replace keeps the list readable).
- Optional date-shift to keep the start-and-stop gaps.
PHI entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Names | PERSON | Tomas Berg → [PATIENT] |
| Dates | DATE_TIME | started 03/2024 → [DATE] |
| Record IDs | MEDICAL_RECORD_NUMBER | MRN 220914 → [MRN] |
| Contact | EMAIL_ADDRESS | t.berg@example.com → [EMAIL] |
| Location | LOCATION | 12 Birch Lane → [ADDRESS] |
| Identifiers | NATIONAL_ID | plan no. A1234 → [ID] |
Compliance achieved
- Strips all 18 ID classes for HIPAA Safe Harbor (45 CFR §164.514(b)).
- Keeps the medicines, which are not patient IDs.
- Offline work means the tool needs no BAA.
Anonymize medication histories offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
Safe Harbor also asks that the rest cannot re-identify the patient. The tool removes the 18 ID types. The medicines stay. A rare regimen plus a small town can still hint at one person, so judge those cases and use Expert Determination.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 18 Safe Harbor identifiers?
They are the IDs in 45 CFR §164.514(b): names, small areas, all dates tied to the person, phone, email, SSN, MRN, account and plan numbers, license and device IDs, URLs, IPs, biometrics, photos, and any other unique code.
Are the medicines treated as IDs?
No. Drug names are clinical content, not Safe Harbor identifiers, so they stay. The list is still useful for research after the IDs go.
Can the date gaps survive the swap?
Yes. Date-shift moves all dates by one offset, so the start-and-stop gaps stay intact.