Re-identification potential of structured health data

Broad access to health data offers great potential for science and research. However, health data often contains sensitive information that must be protected in a special way. In this context, the article deals with the re-identification potential of health data. After defining the relevant terms, we discuss factors that influence the re-identification potential. We summarize international privacy standards for health data and highlight the importance of background knowledge. Given that the reidentification potential is often underestimated in practice, we present strategies for mitigation based on the Five Safes concept. We also discuss classical data protection strategies as well as methods for generating synthetic health data. The article concludes with a brief discussion and outlook on the planned Health Data Lab at the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices.