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PHI Scrubber
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PHI Scrubber Overview
• Allows sites to remove staff and patient identifiers before transferring data to the MPOG Central
database
• Must
be executed before each transfer
• Any case that is not PHI Scrubbed, will not be transferred to MPOG Central
• Fields that are NOT transferred to MPOG Central
and are NOT PHI Scrubbed:
− AIMS_first_name,
− AIMS_last_name,
− AIMS_middle_name,
− AIMS_reg_num,
− AIMS_dob,
− AIMS_ssn,
− AIMS_Address_Street_1,
− AIMS_Address_Street_2,
− AIMS_Address_City,
− AIMS_Address_State_Province,
− AIMS_Address_Postal_Code,
− AIMS_Phone_Number,
− AIMS_Medicaid_Identifier
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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PHI Scrubber Dictionary
• Several dictionaries have been preloaded into the application including a list of the most common
first and last names from the US Census Bureau and the Snomed dictionary to identify healthcare
terminology that should remain with the transfer.
• The site technical team must load the local institution-specific provider names and identifier
dictionary to allow scrubbing of staff identifiers.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Select Case Set
• Three options for selecting a ‘Case Set’ to be
scrubbed
• PHI scrub all cases (Including previous cases already
PHI scrubbed): Allows users to scrub all cases
including those that have been scrubbed in the past
and have no updates.
• Cases Waiting for PHI scrub: Allows users to scrub
only those cases marked as needing to be scrubbed.
This includes new cases and cases that have updates.
• Specific Case: Allows users to scrub a single case using
the MPOG Case ID. A date range should not be
selected for scrubbing a single case.
• When running PHI Scrub before regular
transfers, choose ‘Cases Waiting for PHI scrub’
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Optional – Select Date Range
• Date Range: Selecting a date range is
optional but is often used to assist with
limiting the scrubbing procedure to only
those cases the user wishes to transfer.
Again, a ‘Case Set’ must be selected in
addition to a date range in order to proceed
with the scrubbing process.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Initiating PHI Scrubber
• Once the case set is selected, click ‘Start PHI
Scrubbing’ to start the process.
• Your computer must remain on and open while PHI
Scrubber is running. If you log out or turn the computer
off, it will stop the process.
• There are options to ‘Pause’ or ‘Stop’ PHI
Scrubbing.
• See the Pause PHI Scrubber and Stop PHI Scrubbing slides
for more information.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Pause PHI Scrubber
• If you need to Pause PHI Scrubbing, click the Pause
button.
• If pausing the PHI Scrubber, the application must remain
open in order to ‘un-pause’ and restart the scrubbing
process.
• If for some reason, the user exits out of the application
while ‘paused,’ the Case Set and Date Range (if applicable)
will need to be selected again to continue scrubbing.
• When you are ready to resume, click the ‘Un-Pause
PHI Scrubber’.
• PHI Scrubber will resume scrubbing any cases that still need
to be scrubbed from the original request. Any cases that
were scrubbed before the pause will remain scrubbed.
• Progress will reset to 0% completed, but the total number
of cases to scrub will be updated, removing those
previously scrubbed.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Stop PHI Scrubbing
• If you need to Stop PHI Scrubbing, click the Stop
button.
• This will stop the PHI Scrubbing session
• To resume scrubbing, you will need to re-initiate the
process by selecting a case set and date range.
• Any cases that were scrubbed before stopping will
remain scrubbed.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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AIMS Dictionary Configuration
• The Configuration tab provides access to the AIMS PHI
Dictionary and allows you to search through several dictionaries
to establish what words/strings should be considered PHI and
removed, and which should remain.
• The AIMS PHI Dictionary should be previously loaded by your
designated technical team and consists of all institution-specific
provider names and identifiers.
• The purpose of the institution specific provider PHI dictionary is
to allow the PHI scrubbing process to remove provider names or
identifiers that you do not want included in your MPOG
contribution.
• Although the scrubbing algorithm can use MPOG dictionaries to
remove nationally known common names (e.g. Kevin), local
dictionaries are needed for uncommon names (e.g. Sachin).
• The MPOG Dictionary includes:
• US Census: Includes all common first and last names (strings to remove)
• Snomed: Includes comprehensive list of medical terms (strings to keep)
• Common Perioperative Terms and Acronyms (strings to keep)
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Configuration - Search Strings
• To search specific strings, select ‘All Search
Strings’ and then click ‘Search’ to display the
list of strings in your local database. Each
institution must determine what provider
information they are comfortable leaving in
their database (i.e. provider numbers, initials,
clinical terms, etc.)
• Clinical terms will need to be removed from
the local dictionary. All instances of clinical
terms such as Miller and Macintosh will not be
scrubbed unless it is the patient’s name.
• Note: If the custom search string checkbox is
not selected, the program will display all the
words found in the dictionary for the selected
categories.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Search Strings - Continued
• If ‘Search String’ is selected, the program will search the selected categories for the specified
search string indicated.
• To remove a string from the AIMS PHI Dictionary, simply highlight the desired string and click
‘Remove from AIMS Dictionary.’
• Assess the list to determine which terms are common words that you want to keep.
• For example, you may have a provider name of “Pain,” you must determine the research value vs. privacy risk
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Compare to Common Words
• The ‘Compare provider strings to common words’
function searches through the preloaded
dictionaries to identify PHI, which strings should
be removed, and which strings should be kept.
• Once you have removed all terms in your local
dictionary, click on ‘Compare provider strings to
common words.’
• This will compare the provider names in your
local dictionary to clinical terms which are listed
in Snomed (such as CRNA, attending, and Miller).
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Testing Provider Names Configuration
• The MPOG PHI Dictionary can also be tested to
identify medical terminology and provider
names already existing in the default dictionary.
• To test this function, select the ‘Configuration’
tab at the top.
• Select ‘First Names’ and ‘Last Names,’ then click
‘Search.’
• Provider names from the PHI dictionary should display
in the Results section as shown below.
• If the Results display is empty, contact your
technical team to load your local PHI dictionary
data.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Configuration Note – Uncommon Names
• It is important to note that while the PHI Scrubber will remove as many identifiers as it detects,
there will always be a minimal (non-zero) risk of identifiers transferring via free text notes.
• For example, “Dr. Uncommon-Name spoke with the patient about smoking cessation.”
• While it is infrequent, it does rarely occur that uncommon names slip through, and you will need
to add those names to the PHI Dictionary.
• If the last name is two words with a space or a hyphen between, you may have to add them as
two separate names
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Configuration -Adding to the PHI Dictionary
• To add names to the PHI dictionary,
click on the ‘Configuration’ tab.
• Check the box to the left of ‘Search
String’ then type the name you wish to
add in the box to the right.
• Choose the appropriate Type then click
‘Add to AIMS Dictionary’.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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PHI Scrubber Sample Testing
• It is possible to test a desired word, phrase, or
sentence to determine if identified PHI
information (in this case, staff names) will be
properly excluded.
• The ‘PHI Scrubber Sample Testing’ runs
scrubbing logic for a given sample string and
categorizes each word.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Sample Testing - Features
• Test String
• Enter desired string to be tested
• Associate with an MPOG Case
• This allows users to enter a valid case ID, which will run the results of
the’ PHI Scrubber’ process.
• Without associating with an MPOG case, no patient specific data
scrubbing can be tested. Only name strings in the US Census Bureau
and MPOG staff identifier list would be removed.
• If there is patient PHI in the test string that is not a common name or
institution-specific staff name, association with an MPOG case will
show the patient name and will not be scrubbed.
• Show Whitespace and Delimiters
• Displays the whitespace and the delimiter characters that were
present in the test string as words in the Results data grid
• PHI Scrubber Logic
• Displays included and excluded variables within your test string
phrase
• Resulting String
• Displays the final phrase with PHI removed and labeled as [PHI]
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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Using PHI Scrub Sample Testing
• Type the desired word, phrase, or sentence in the ‘Test String’ box
• For example: Dr. Reed gave morphine.
• Optional – Select Associate with an MPOG Case, and paste the MPOG Case ID in the text box
• Optional – Select Show whitespace and delimiters
• Click Test
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
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PHI Scrubber Sample Test - Logic
PHI Scrubber Logic will display included and excluded
variables within your test string phrase, indicating PHI
has been removed as displayed in the ‘Resulting String.’
A grid will display the following elements:
• Source Word: Original word(s) entered into the ‘Test
String’ prior to PHI removal
• Rule Triggered: The reason why the word was or was
not removed
• Resulting Word: The word(s) after ‘PHI Scrubber
Logic’ has been applied and PHI has been removed
• Note: Clinical terms will need to be removed from
the local dictionary. All instances of clinical terms
such as Miller, Macintosh, and Brown will not be
scrubbed unless it is the patient name.
Last Updated: 9/25/2026 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com
