Systems and methods of managing specification, enforcement, or auditing of electronic health information access or use

• US 8,041,749 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2007
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medox Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Medox Exchange, Inc.
• Inventors: Beck, Michael E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yen; Syling
• Application Number:
  US11/786,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20070282843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,651 Days
• Field of Search: 707/9, 707/10, 707/610, 707/640, 707/661, 707/706, 707/713, 707/722, 707/736, 707/758, 707/791, 707/802, 707/803, 707/809, 707/812, 707/999.1, 707/999.101, 707/999.102, 705/1, 705/3, 726/27, 726/28, 726/29, 726/30, 713/173, 713/175, 713/165, 713/167, 713/166
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6272 by registering files or documents with a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, related to managing specification, enforcement, or auditing of electronic health information use. In general, data characterizing a request to modify access rights to health information is received and the access rights are modified in accordance with the request, where the modifying includes modifying a property characterizing access rights of a relationship between a first user and second users, or an organization of the second users. The access rights may be independent of the health information and modification of access rights may be independent of a security of the health information.

Claims

1. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that are configured to, when executed, cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving data characterizing a request to modify access and usage rights of health information of a subject, the health information being secured by a security, the request being from a first user managing the access and usage rights of a second one or more other users to the health information;

determining to what extent the first user is permitted to modify the access and usage rights of the second one or more other users as a function of a relationship between the first user and the health information, wherein a table of relationships is queried to determine if the first user has at least an indirect relationship to the subject;

maintaining a data store including a plurality of data structures, each of the data structures corresponding to a relationship type, and each of the data structures including information describing the access and usage rights, wherein the data store is further configured to store policy preferences related to the access and usage rights, and wherein the information describing the access and usage rights relates to the relationship type; and

modifying the access and usage rights in accordance with the request, the modifying comprising;

modifying a property characterizing the access and usage rights of a relationship between the first user and the second users, the relationship being stored in at least one of the plurality of data structures, the access and usage rights being independent of the health information in order to enable modification of the access and usage rights independent of the security of the health information such that the security of the health information need not be changed in response to the modification of the property.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the access and usage rights comprise one or more of rights for viewing, copying, printing, or exporting the health information.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the receiving and the modifying are performed by services that may interface with a user interface.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the user interface is a website.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the health information is a secure electronic health record.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the health information is a secure holding of a secure electronic health record.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein security of the secure holding differs from security of one or more other secure holdings of the secure electronic health record.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein access rights of the secure holding differ from access rights of one or more other secure holdings of the secure electronic health record.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the modified property.

10. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a request from the second users to access or use the health information at a first time later or earlier than a second time of another request, the request being approved or denied based on the modifying the property to approve or revoke access.

11. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations of the receiving and the modifying are performed at a server and the operations further comprise requesting from a client of at least one of the second users access of the health information and the server determining whether to grant access depending on the property characterizing the access and usage rights of the relationship between the first user and the second users.

12. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the relationship types include user to user relationships, organization to user relationships, user to organization relationships, and organization to organization relationships, the relationships of the plurality of data structures associated with one or more attributes of access and usage rights between parties of at least some of the relationships, a combination of relationships used to determine indirect relationships, and the relationships describing a graph of relationships of the parties.

13. A computer-implemented method for use with a data store containing a plurality of data structures, the method comprising:

receiving data characterizing a request to modify access and usage rights of health information of a subject, the health information being secured by a security, the request being from a first user managing the access and usage rights of a second one or more other users to the health information;

determining to what extent the first user is permitted to modify the access and usage rights of the one or more other users as a function of a relationship between the first user and the health information, wherein a table of relationships is queried to determine if the first user has at least an indirect relationship to the subject;

maintaining the data store including the plurality of data structures, each of the data structures corresponding to a relationship type, and each of the data structures including information describing the access and usage rights, wherein the data store is further configured to store policy preferences related to the access and usage rights, and wherein the information describing the access and usage rights relates to the relationship type; and

modifying the access and usage rights in accordance with the request, the modifying comprising;

modifying a property characterizing the access and usage rights of a relationship between the first user and the second users, the relationship being stored in at least one of the plurality of data structures, the access rights being independent of the health information in order to enable modification of the access and usage rights independent of the security of the health information such that the security of the health information need not be changed in response to the modification of the property.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving and the modifying are performed by services that may interface with a user interface.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the health information is a secure holding of a secure electronic health record.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the operations of the receiving and the modifying are performed at a server and the operations further comprise requesting from a client of at least one of the second users access and usage of the health information and the server determining whether to grant access depending on the property characterizing the access and usage rights of the relationship between the first user and the second users.

17. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that are configured to, when executed, cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving data characterizing a request to modify access and usage rights of health information of a subject, the health information being secured by a security, the request being from a first user managing the access and usage rights of a second one or more other users to the health information;

determining to what extent the first user is permitted to modify the access and usage rights of the second one or more other users as a function of a relationship between the first user and the health information, wherein a table of relationships is queried to determine if the first user has at least an indirect relationship to the subject;

maintaining a data store including a plurality of data structures, each of the data structures corresponding to a relationship type, and each of the data structures including information describing access and usage rights, wherein the data store is further configured to store policy preferences related to the access and usage rights, and wherein the information describing the access and usage rights relates to the relationship type; and

modifying the access and usage rights in accordance with the request, the modifying comprising;

modifying a property characterizing the access and usage rights of a relationship between the first user and an organization comprising the second users, the relationship being stored in at least one of the plurality of data structures, the access and usage rights being independent of the health information in order to enable modification of the access and usage rights independent of the security of the health information such that the security of the health information need not be changed in response to the modification of the property.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the receiving and the modifying are performed by services that may interface with a user interface.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the operations of the receiving and the modifying are performed at a server and the operations further comprise requesting from a client of at least one of the second users access and usage of the health information and the server determining whether to grant access depending on the property characterizing the access and usage rights of the relationship between the first user and the organization of the second users.