SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PUBLIC-KEY ENCRYPTION FOR TRANSMISSION OF MEDICAL INFORMATION

• US 20080040602A1
• Filed: 05/10/2007
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NDCHealth Corp. (McKesson Corp.)
• Original Assignee: NDCHealth Corp. (McKesson Corp.)
• Inventors: Williams, Jessica, Casey, Troy
• Granted Patent: US 7,908,487 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/153
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/88 Medical equipments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy

Abstract

The invention is directed to systems and methods for communicating sensitive and/or confidential medical information with the use of encryption. Specifically, the invention is directed to transmitting a request for sensitive medical data, where the request includes a public key for encryption as an XML node. The public key may be used by the responding party to encrypt at least a portion of the response and respond to the request. The only party in the network path that is able to decrypt the message is the originator of the request because the requestor will have a private keys which is required to decrypt the response data.

Claims

1. A method of transferring medical information comprising,

receiving a request for medical information associated with a patient, wherein the request includes a public key for encryption, wherein the public key is included in the request as an Extensible Markup Language (XML) node, and wherein the XML node is part of an XML wrapper;

generating a response to the request;

encrypting at least a portion of the response utilizing the public key and an encryption algorithm; and

transmitting the response to the original requester.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a request for medical information associated with a patient includes receiving a request that comprises pharmacy benefit management service (PBM) and physician-routing information in the XML wrapper.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a request for medical information associated with a patient includes receiving a request that comprises one or more selections from the group consisting of formulary information, eligibility information, patient medical records, medical history information, and prior authorization information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the response to the original requestor includes transmitting the response wherein at least a portion of the response is associated with a private key for decrypting the at least a portion of the response.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a request for medical information associated with a patient includes receiving a request comprising sender tags, wherein the sender tags encompass identification data associated with the requestor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a request for medical information associated with a patient includes receiving a request comprising sender tags, wherein the sender tags encompass identification data that includes a password.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the patient is associated with at least one member pharmacy benefit management service (PBM).

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the patient is not associated with at least one member pharmacy benefit management service (PBM);

and forwarding the request to at least one partner hub.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving encrypted data from the at least one partner hub;

and

aggregating the encrypted data received from the at least one partner hub with the response prior to transmitting the response to the original requester.

10. A method of transferring medical information comprising:

creating a request for medical information associated with a patient, wherein the request includes a public key for encryption, wherein the public key is included in the request as an Extensible Markup Language (XML) node, and wherein the XML node is part of an XML wrapper;

transmitting the request to a host server;

receiving a response to the request for medical information associated with a patient, wherein at least a portion of the response is encrypted;

decrypting the at least a portion of the response utilizing a private key.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a request for medical information associated with a patient includes creating a request through the use of an aggregator.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a request for medical information associated with a patient includes placing pharmacy benefit management service (PBM) and physician-routing information in the XML wrapper.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a request for medical information associated with a patient includes adding sender tags to the request, wherein the sender tags encompass identification data associated with the requestor.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a request for medical information associated with a patient includes adding sender tags and command tags to the request, wherein the sender tags encompass identification data that includes a password.

15. A system for reporting personal medical account balances comprising:

at least one database, wherein the at least one database contains medical information; and

a host server in communication with the at least one database, wherein the host server contains a processor that executes software instructions for;

receiving a request for medical information associated with a patient, wherein the request includes a public key for encryption, wherein the public key is included in the request as an Extensible Markup Language (XML) node, and wherein the XML node is part of an XML wrapper,

generating a response to the request,

encrypting at least a portion of a response utilizing the public key and an encryption algorithm, and

transmitting the response to the original requestor.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the host server is in communication with a partner hub.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the request contains pharmacy benefit management service (PBM) and physician-routing information in the XML wrapper.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein at least a portion of medical information associated with a patient comprises one or more selections from the group consisting of formulary information, eligibility information, patient medical records, medical history information, and prior authorization information.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least a portion of the response is associated with a private key for decrypting the at least a portion of the response.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the software instructions executed by the host server include determining that the patient is associated with at least one member pharmacy benefit management service (PBM).