Privacy & Security

IRB Approved

All projects are IRB approved retrospective research projects to ensure maximal patient privacy and security and to maintain the highest ethical standards. The privacy and confidentiality of patient data is protected by de-identification methods that meet the Safe Harbor principles outlined in the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

HIPAA Compliant

Academic Partners utilize HIPAA-compliant bulk image retrieval and bulk image and report de-identification software to remove all PHI. The de-identified images, reports, and metadata file(s) are labelled with coded identifiers. The Academic Partner and AI Miner quality control the de-identification and secure transfer process.

Secure Data Transfer

All data transfers utilize HIPAA-compliant secure data transfer methods. All data transfer are governed under a data use agreement for data transferred from the Academic Partner to the AI MINER patient registry and for data transferred from the AI MINER patient registry to the Industry Partners.

Two-way Anonymity

Neither the academic partner, nor the industry partner can identify one another. Each Academic Partner is assigned a coded identifier representing one of six geographic locations in the United States, including Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest, Pacific. This avoids identification issues for Academic Partners that are the sole academic medical center for their state.

Fair Pricing

Our fair pricing covers research and service expenses only, including personnel effort and data curation, de-identification, storage and transfer. We don’t sell or place a value on patient images or data.

Got questions?

Ask us directly

Is it legal and ethical to share de-identified medical images, reports, and metadata?

In the United States, each medical center owns the images, reports, and metadata. It is legal to and ethical to share these under an IRB-approved research study. The Artificial Intelligence Multi-institutional Imaging and Exploratory Research (AI MINER) patient registry is a retrospective IRB approved research study. This study has minimal risk, qualities for a HIPAA waiver and waiver of consent, and the images, reports, and metadata will be de-identified with a coded identifier applied.

What kind of protected health information (PHI) is removed by the software?

The following PHI will remain with the Academic Partners and will not be entered into the AI MINER patient registry:

Names (Full or last name and initial)
All geographical identifiers smaller than a state
Dates (other than year) directly related to an individual
Phone Numbers
Fax numbers
Email addresses
Social Security numbers
Medical record numbers
Health insurance beneficiary numbers
Account numbers
Certificate/license numbers
Vehicle identifiers (including serial numbers and license plate numbers)
Device identifiers and serial numbers
Web Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)
Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers
Biometric identifiers, including finger, retinal and voice prints
Full face photographic images and any comparable images
Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code except the unique coded identifier assigned by the investigator to code the data

Will the name of my Academic Medical Center (AMC) be on the AI Miner website or in the de-identified images, reports or metadata?

No and No. In order to maintain two-way anonymity, we don’t list the names of Academic Partners on our website. Nor do we provide the name of your AMC on the de-identified images, reports, or metadata. In fact, we specifically program our software to remove the name of each AMC from all sources of information. Our image de-identification software labels each site with a coded identifier that cannot be linked back to the specific AMCs by outside entities.

Does AI Miner buy and sell patient datasets, and how much does it cost?

We don’t sell or place a value on patient images, reports, or data. Our fair pricing covers research and service expenses only, including personnel effort and data curation, de-identification, storage and transfer. The costs of our services depend upon the volume of images needed and overall complexity of the research, including the need for patient outcomes data. Because of our fair pricing promise, we have the lowest prices in the industry.