PHI/PII-Approved Apps in G Suite

Google certifies a subset of their online applications as meeting the technical requirements for storing PHI-related data.  As a result, all users at the Medical School and some users from other parts of the College that handle PHI are only being provisioned access to the PHI-certified tools in G Suite.

It is important for users to note that individual data owners/users are still responsible for ensuring that they do not expose PHI or other sensitive data stored in G Suite via careless sharing of files/folders.

If you work with Dartmouth-Hitchcock patients, programs or data, please be advised that Dartmouth-Hitchcock administration has asked us to specifically advise users that no D-H PHI may be stored in the Google suite tools until a fuller privacy and security review can be performed.

The list of applications approved for PHI at the time of this writing can be found below. Click each tool's name to read more about it.

  • Drive
    • Keep all your work in one place, view different file formats without buying extra software, and access your files from any device.  This includes the Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms apps that are used to create/edit files in Google Drive.
  • Tasks
    • Keep track of your daily tasks, organize multiple lists, and track important deadlines
  • Keep
    • Make to-do lists, transcribe voice memos, take photos as reminders, and more.
  • Sites
    • Build public sites, internal project hubs, and more—all without IT help.
  • Jamboard
    • Visualize your ideas in a new and collaborative way via smart whiteboards
  • Hangouts Chat
    • Communicate with direct messages and group conversations.

Other popular Google applications such as YouTube, Blogger, Photos, and more are not approved and therefore will not be provisioned for our users.  If they choose, users can create/utilize personal Google accounts to access these tools for non-PHI purposes.

If new applications become available through Dartmouth's G Suite and are approved by Google for PHI, these features will be enabled for our PHI-compliant users as quickly as possible.

For more information, Google has published this article and links regarding HIPAA compliance.