The standard is that identity of the data subject cannot be reasonably deduced by anyone from tabulations or other presentations of the information. If there are clear standards for rendering medical data anonymous, then it may be that these could set international criteria under which health information can be exchanged, purchased, sold, and freely analyzed, without fear of violation of the natural or legal rights of the people concerning whom the information was originally obtained. There are three levels of identifiability of data records. These are name-identified data, data identifiable by reference to public keys, and data susceptible to probabilistic identification. Because it has her name on it.
Name alone is the typical indexing key in many office records.
In larger systems, such as hospital record rooms and most computerized medical data systems, name will typically be supplemented by a an institutional number. The number becomes the primary index, but patients themselves may have no idea of their number, and name remains an essential checking element. Intrinsically identifiable records and abstracts are widely used in clinical research. The name facilitates filing and retrieval, proper flow of new information into the record, cross-referencing of physically disparate records, and most importantly connection of the record to the individual whom it concerns. Records with name, address, and other personal identifiers permit the correct linkage of follow-up data to the original file, and prevents multiple reports of a single adverse event from appearing in regulatory agency files as if they referred to many events.