Encrypted Access Logging for Privacy-Preserving Health Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for downloading health data from electronic health record (EHR) systems to mobile devices raise privacy concerns as they often involve third-party servers that may compromise patient data security.
Innovation Solution
A system that stores health data in a multi-node data structure encrypted with unique encryption keys, allowing access logging that maintains patient privacy by encrypting and anonymizing data access records, enabling only health institutions to reconstruct access logs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If health data is stored and accessed through a third-party server, then data accessibility and management functionality are improved, but patient privacy and data security are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments health data into multiple encrypted nodes distributed across a decentralized network, where each node contains only partial information. This allows the server to store and manage data efficiently while preventing any single point from revealing complete patient information, thus maintaining both accessibility and privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces cryptographic intermediaries (encryption keys, hash functions, and protocol layers) that mediate between the patient's data and the server's storage capabilities. These intermediaries enable the server to handle data operations without directly accessing or understanding the underlying health information, resolving the contradiction between operational ease and privacy protection.
2Reliability
If transaction records include detailed access information, then auditing capability is improved, but patient identity exposure risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates anonymized copies of access transaction records that contain all necessary auditing information (who accessed what and when) but with patient identifiers replaced by pseudonymous tokens. These copies are stored on the server for auditing purposes, while the linking information remains securely distributed, enabling reliable auditing without identity exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms sensitive identity parameters into non-sensitive pseudonymous parameters through cryptographic hashing. Transaction records use these transformed parameters for storage and auditing, while the original identity information remains protected in distributed key stores, allowing auditing capability while eliminating direct identity exposure risk.
Data Source
AI summary
A server system implemented by a service provider may store health data of a user according to a multi-node data structure. The server system may generate transaction records based on requests to access the health data. Responsive to requests for the transaction records, the server system may query a database that includes the health data and generate a data package based on the querying. The data package may be sent to a requesting system. The data package may be usable by the requesting system to identify which patient profiles were accessed by which physicians.