System and method for generating de-identified health care data

• US 6,732,113 B1
• Filed: 09/20/2000
• Issued: 05/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: IQVIA, Inc. (IQVIA Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verispan LLC (IQVIA Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Farrell, Maureen, Davis, Steven, Nordman, Erik, Gilbert, Tom, Barrett, Kevin, Grubmuller, John, Grenier, Randell, Wentworth, Charles, Ober, N. Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahmoudi, Hassan
• Application Number:
  US09/665,420
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/102, 707/10, 707/3, 707/5, 707/104.1, 707/200, 705/7, 705/11, 713/168, 709/204, 709/206, 709/207, 709/200
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A system and method for creating a unique alias associated with an individual identified in a health care database such that health care data, and particularly pharmaceutical-related data, can be efficiently gathered and analyzed. The system has a first data store for storing at least one record where each record includes a plurality of identification fields which when concatenated uniquely identify an individual, and at least one health care field corresponding to health care data associated with the individual. The system also has a second data store, and a processor. The processor selects a record of the first data store, then selects a subset of the plurality of identification fields within the selected record, and concatenates the selected subset of identification fields. Then the processor stores the concatenated identification fields in a record in the second data store with the at least one health care field from the selected record of the first data store.

Claims

1. A system for creating a unique alias associated with an individual identified in a health care database, comprising:

(a) a plurality of first data stores at different locations from one another, each first data store for storing a plurality of records, each record including a plurality of identification fields which when taken together uniquely identify an individual, and at least one health care field corresponding to health care data associated with the individual;

(b) means, associated with each first data store, for creating a file having a plurality of records selected from the first data store; and

(c) a plurality of processors, each processor associated with one of the first data stores for performing the steps of;

(i) selecting a record of the file;

(ii) selecting a subset of the plurality of identification fields within the selected record;

(iii) concatenating the selected subset of identification fields;

(iv) encrypting the concatenated identification fields to define a unique alias;

(v) replacing, with the unique alias, fields of the file that uniquely identify an individual, and deleting any remaining fields of the file that uniquely identify an individual;

(vi) repeating steps (i)-(v) for all records of the file; and

(vii) following steps (i)-(vi), transmitting the file to a second data store at a location remote from that of the first data store and its associated processor via a secure data communications network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the health care data stored among one or more of the first data stores corresponds to pharmaceutical claims data, medical claims and hospital claims.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the selected subset comprises last name, birthday and gender.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor performs the further steps of, based on the concatenated identification fields and the at least one health care field of each record of the second data store, analyzing longitudinal, historical records of individuals using individual-level linking methodologies.

5. A system for creating a unique alias associated with an individual identified in a health care database, the database including a plurality of first data stores at different locations from one another, each first data store for storing a plurality of records, each record including a plurality of identification fields which when taken together uniquely identify an individual, and at least one health care field corresponding to health care data associated with the individual, and a second data store at a location remote from those of the first data stores, the system comprising:

(a) means associated with each of the first data stores for selecting a subset of the plurality of identification fields;

(b) means associated with each of the first data stores for concatenating the selected subset of identification fields; and

(c) means associated with each of the first data stores for encrypting the concatenated identification fields to define a unique alias;

(d) means associated with each of the first data stores for storing in a record in a file the unique alias as well as the at least one health care field from the selected record of the first data store, and for removing any fields of the file that uniquely identify an individual; and

(e) means for transmitting the file to the second data store for storage.

6. A method for creating a unique alias associated with an individual identified in one of a plurality of health care databases at different locations from one another, wherein each health care database stores a plurality of records, each record including a plurality of identification fields which when taken together uniquely identify an individual, and at least one health care field corresponding to health care data associated with the individual, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) selecting a record within one of the health care databases;

(b) selecting a subset of the plurality of identification fields within the selected record;

(c) concatenating the selected subset of identification fields;

(d) encrypting the concatenated identification fields to define a unique alias; and

(e) storing in a record in a file the concatenated identification fields as well as the at least one health care field from the selected record of the first data store and removing any fields of the file that uniquely identify an individual; and

(f) transmitting the file to a second data store for storage.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

(e) based on the concatenated identification fields and the at least one health care field of each record of the second database, analyzing longitudinal, historical records of individuals using individual-level linking methodologies.