How do I use AI with patient notes safely?

Use a local de-identification tool like PrivacyScrubber to replace patient names, dates of birth, MRNs, and contact information with anonymous tokens before pasting into any AI. The AI assists with the clinical task while never seeing protected health information.

What PHI does PrivacyScrubber detect?

PrivacyScrubber detects names, emails, phone numbers, and IDs (which map to HIPAA identifiers including patient names, contact info, dates, and account numbers). PRO users can add custom rules for MRNs, policy numbers, ICD codes, and other practice-specific patterns.

HIPAA Compliant AI Tool — Scrub PHI Before ChatGPT

Q: Is ChatGPT HIPAA compliant?

No. OpenAI does not sign HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) for consumer ChatGPT. ChatGPT Enterprise has different terms, but still transmits data to OpenAI servers. The only HIPAA-aligned approach is to de-identify PHI locally before it reaches any AI model.

Use ChatGPT With Patient Notes — Without Violating HIPAA

De-identify PHI locally before any AI sees it. Patient names, DOBs, MRNs, and contact info are replaced with safe tokens in your browser — nothing reaches OpenAI's servers.

HIPAA De-identification Aligned 100% Client-Side Zero PHI Transmission

Scrub PHI Before AI — Free

Is ChatGPT HIPAA Compliant?

No — for most healthcare use cases.

OpenAI does not sign Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) for consumer ChatGPT
Your prompts are transmitted to and stored on OpenAI servers
Under HIPAA, transmitting PHI to a non-BAA vendor creates serious liability
ChatGPT Enterprise has different terms but still externalises your data

The only HIPAA-aligned approach to using AI with clinical content is de-identifying PHI before it leaves your browser. PrivacyScrubber does exactly this.

How the PHI-Safe AI Workflow Works

Paste clinical note into PrivacyScrubber

E.g. Patient Jane Smith (DOB 04/12/1978, MRN 9823441) presents with...

PHI replaced with tokens locally

Result: Patient [NAME_1] (DOB [ID_1], MRN [ID_2]) presents with... — zero network requests.

Paste de-identified note into ChatGPT

AI generates clinical summary, draft documentation, or billing codes — no PHI ever transmitted.

Reverse Scrub restores patient names

Paste AI output back into PrivacyScrubber — tokens are restored to real values in your browser memory only.

HIPAA Identifiers PrivacyScrubber Detects

Patient names

Email addresses

Phone / fax numbers

Social Security Numbers

MRNs & account numbers (PRO custom rules)

Dates of birth (PRO custom rules)

FAQs

Is ChatGPT HIPAA compliant?

No — OpenAI does not sign BAAs for consumer ChatGPT. Do not paste PHI directly. Use PrivacyScrubber to strip identifiers first. How ChatGPT handles your data →

Does PrivacyScrubber sign a BAA?

PrivacyScrubber doesn't need a BAA — it never receives your data. PHI is processed entirely in your browser. There is no server, no storage, and no transmission. The covered entity maintains full control.

What clinical AI tasks can I safely do?

After scrubbing: discharge summary drafts, ICD coding assistance, clinical note formatting, medical literature Q&A, billing query drafts. All while keeping real patient identity in your browser only.

Try PrivacyScrubber Free

No sign-up · No server · No PHI transmitted · Works offline