| name | clinical-anonymization |
| description | Anonymizes clinical text by removing or replacing personally identifiable information (PHI/PII) such as names, dates, locations, identifiers, and contact details. Use when processing clinical notes, patient records, or any sensitive healthcare data. |
When anonymizing clinical text, follow these steps:
1. Identify sensitive information
Detect and classify all Personally Identifiable Information (PII/PHI), including:
- Names (patients, doctors, relatives)
- Dates (birth, admission, discharge, events)
- Locations (cities, hospitals, addresses)
- Identification numbers (CPF, RG, SSN, medical record numbers)
- Contact information (phone numbers, emails)
- Organization names (clinics, hospitals, employers)
- Geographic details smaller than a state level
- Any unique identifiers that can re-identify a person
2. Apply anonymization
Replace each entity with a consistent placeholder:
- [PATIENT_1], [DOCTOR_1]
- [DATE_1]
- [LOCATION_1]
- [ID_1]
- [CONTACT_1]
- [ORG_1]
Rules:
- Maintain consistency: the same entity must always map to the same placeholder
- Do not invent or infer missing data
- Do not remove clinical meaning
- Use consistent indexed placeholders per entity type. If multiple entities of the same type exist, assign incremental IDs (e.g., [PATIENT_1], [PATIENT_2]).
3. Preserve clinical utility
- Keep all medical information intact:
- symptoms
- diagnoses
- medications
- procedures
- Maintain sentence structure and readability
- Avoid over-anonymization that removes useful context
4. Generalization (when needed)
If exact anonymization is not possible, generalize:
- Exact age → age range (e.g., "84 years" → "80+ years")
- Specific date → month/year or relative time ("March 2023" → "[DATE_1]")
- Precise location → broader region
5. Validate output
Before returning the result:
- Ensure no PII/PHI remains
- Ensure consistency of placeholders
- Ensure medical meaning is preserved
6. Output format
Return only the anonymized text.
Do not include explanations.
Do not include metadata unless explicitly requested.
