Metadata Tree Key Rotation for EHR Access Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current electronic health record (EHR) systems face challenges in securely sharing healthcare information among participants while ensuring consistency, privacy, and security, particularly in untrusted cloud storage environments, where concurrent access and access revocation are complex and resource-intensive.
Innovation Solution
An EHR store processing environment with an encrypted data store and a metadata tree journaling system that uses append-only and immutable journaling mechanisms to manage access rights, allowing authorized participants to access and store EHRs securely, while enabling concurrent read and write operations and revoking access through key rotation and revocation mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If EHRs are shared among multiple healthcare participants with concurrent access, then accessibility and coordination of care are improved, but maintaining data consistency and security becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments access management into two independent components: a metadata tree that organizes EHR data structures and a journaling system that logs all access operations. This segmentation allows concurrent read and write operations to be managed separately, reducing the complexity of coordinating access among multiple participants while maintaining data consistency through the journal's sequential recording mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a metadata tree as an intermediary layer between the actual EHR data and the access control mechanisms. The metadata tree contains node information that mediates access requests, allowing the system to manage concurrent access without directly locking the underlying EHR data, thereby simplifying access management while preserving data integrity.
2Reliability
If access rights are revoked for security reasons, then security and privacy are improved, but system operations become more burdensome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-establishing the metadata tree structure with all potential access nodes before actual access operations occur. When access revocation is needed, the system only needs to update the existing metadata tree structure rather than creating new control mechanisms, significantly reducing the operational burden of revocation while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by maintaining a journal that records copies of all metadata tree states. When access rights need to be revoked, the system can reference previous journal entries to understand the current access state and apply revocation systematically, reducing the complexity of tracking and managing access changes across multiple participants.
3Ease of operation
If cloud storage is used to enable seamless sharing, then accessibility and coordination are improved, but trust and data integrity become concerns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies beforehand cushioning by implementing the journaling system that continuously records all write operations to the metadata tree before they are committed to the cloud storage. This creates a protective layer that ensures data integrity can be verified even if the cloud storage entity is untrusted, allowing seamless sharing while mitigating trust concerns through cryptographic verification of the journal entries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical trust relationship with cloud storage entities by substituting it with a cryptographic verification system based on the journaling mechanism. Instead of relying on the trustworthiness of the storage entity, the system uses cryptographic hashes and sequential journal entries to verify data integrity, eliminating the need for trusted storage while enabling seamless EHR sharing.
4Productivity
If concurrent read and write operations are allowed, then productivity and access efficiency are improved, but maintaining data consistency becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the data structure into a metadata tree and underlying EHR data, allowing concurrent operations on different segments. Read operations can access the metadata tree structure while write operations update specific nodes, and the journaling system independently records all changes. This segmentation enables high productivity through concurrent access while keeping consistency management simpler through the journal's sequential recording of all modifications.
Data Source
AI summary
A method performed by a processing system includes identifying a first node in a metadata tree of a patient that corresponds to an encrypted electronic health record in an encrypted data store and preventing a portion of the first node from being decrypted with a node key of a first healthcare participant in response to a second node of the metadata tree including key rotation information that indicates that the node key has been revoked by a second healthcare participant.