OpenEvidence Data Handling

Overview

OpenEvidence provides AI-powered clinical evidence synthesis for healthcare professionals. Data types include clinical queries (potentially containing PHI), evidence citations from medical literature, patient-contextualized responses, research paper references, and usage analytics. All data handling must comply with HIPAA (PHI safeguards, minimum necessary standard, BAA requirements), GDPR for EU clinicians, and FDA guidance on clinical decision support. Query data may contain patient identifiers, diagnoses, or treatment details that require de-identification before storage or analytics.

Data Classification

Data Import

interface ClinicalQuery {
  queryId: string; clinicianId: string; queryText: string;
  patientContext?: { age?: number; sex?: string; conditions?: string[] };
  timestamp: string;
}

async function submitClinicalQuery(query: ClinicalQuery): Promise<string> {
  const sanitized = { ...query, queryText: deidentifyPHI(query.queryText) };
  const res = await fetch('https://api.openevidence.com/v1/query', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.OPENEVIDENCE_API_KEY}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify(sanitized),
  });
  return (await res.json()).evidenceId;
}

function deidentifyPHI(text: string): string {
  return text
    .replace(/\b(MRN|mrn)[:\s]?\d{6,}\b/g, '[MRN_REDACTED]')
    .replace(/\b\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}\b/g, '[SSN_REDACTED]')
    .replace(/\b(DOB|dob)[:\s]?\d{1,2}\/\d{1,2}\/\d{2,4}\b/g, '[DOB_REDACTED]')
    .replace(/\b[A-Z][a-z]+ [A-Z][a-z]+, (MD|DO|NP|PA)\b/g, '[PROVIDER_REDACTED]');
}

Data Export

async function exportEvidenceSummary(queryIds: string[]) {
  const summaries = [];
  for (const id of queryIds) {
    const res = await fetch(`https://api.openevidence.com/v1/evidence/${id}`, {
      headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.OPENEVIDENCE_API_KEY}` },
    });
    const data = await res.json();
    summaries.push({ queryId: id, citations: data.citations,
      summary: deidentifyPHI(data.summary), confidence: data.confidenceScore });
  }
  return summaries;
}

Data Validation

function validateClinicalQuery(q: ClinicalQuery): string[] {
  const errors: string[] = [];
  if (!q.queryId) errors.push('Missing query ID');
  if (!q.clinicianId) errors.push('Missing clinician identifier');
  if (!q.queryText || q.queryText.length < 10) errors.push('Query too short for meaningful evidence retrieval');
  if (q.queryText.length > 5000) errors.push('Query exceeds 5000 char limit');
  if (/\b\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}\b/.test(q.queryText)) errors.push('CRITICAL: SSN detected in query text');
  if (/\b(MRN|mrn)[:\s]?\d{6,}\b/.test(q.queryText)) errors.push('CRITICAL: MRN detected in query text');
  if (q.timestamp && isNaN(Date.parse(q.timestamp))) errors.push('Invalid timestamp');
  return errors;
}

Compliance

• [ ] HIPAA: BAA executed with OpenEvidence before any PHI transmission
• [ ] HIPAA: PHI de-identified using Safe Harbor method before storage/analytics
• [ ] HIPAA: Minimum necessary standard enforced — only transmit required clinical context
• [ ] HIPAA: Audit trail for all PHI access with clinician ID, timestamp, and query purpose
• [ ] HIPAA: Breach notification procedure documented (72-hour window)
• [ ] GDPR: EU clinician data subject rights (access, erasure, portability)
• [ ] FDA: Clinical decision support disclaimer included in all evidence responses
• [ ] Data retention: raw queries purged at 7 days, de-identified analytics retained 1 year

Error Handling

Resources

• OpenEvidence Platform
• HIPAA De-Identification Guidance

Next Steps

See openevidence-security-basics.