Do all human research studies use PHI?
No. Some research studies do not collect PHI for their project or for the recruitment of their research subjects. For example, anonymous surveys and observational studies that do not collect identifiers do not use PHI. Another example is non-medical studies that recruit subjects through advertisements or flyers where no PHI is accessed for recruitment or collected for the study. If your study does not use PHI, then it is not subject to HIPAA regulations. However, appropriate measures for data security still apply.
