Secure portable medical information system and methods related thereto

• US 8,799,650 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2011
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DatCard Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: DatCard Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Duma, Christopher M.
• Primary Examiner(s): ABYANEH, ALI S
• Application Number:
  US13/315,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20120179908A1
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• Field of Search: 713/165, 726/2, 726/27, 705/3
• US Class Current: 713/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/10 Usage protection of distributed data files
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/121 Timestamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226

Abstract

Using a secure portable reference to medical information, stored on a portable storage medium, various embodiments allow a patient to give to their doctor an easy-to-use access key that will enable access to desired medical information stored on a computer network. The secure portable reference provides greater transportability of medical records to a patient or medical data repository including a doctor'"'"'s office, clinic, or hospital, while maintaining data security to satisfy medical data privacy regulations and expectations. Some described embodiments use encrypted information inside the secure portable reference to hide, for example, who is allowed access to the stored medical information, and the network location of the stored information. Some embodiments use a secret PIN to authenticate the user attempting access to the referenced medical information. The secure portable reference contains information on network resources used to enable download access to medical information, including medical records and medical images.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing access to an individual'"'"'s medical images using one or more computer processors configured to execute the steps comprising:

generating a first personal identification number for a secure portable reference, the secure portable reference stored within a USB thumb drive;

using the first personal identification number to encrypt secure information used to access an individual'"'"'s medical digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) images stored on two or more databases;

storing the secure information on the secure portable reference within the USB thumb drive;

storing, in the secure portable reference within the USB thumb drive, a security module configured to decrypt at least a portion of the secure portable reference including the security information;

storing, in the secure portable reference within the USB thumb drive, computer-executable instructions configured to;

receive a second personal identification number from a user through a client computer connected to the USB thumb drive;

use the second personal identification number and the security module to decrypt the secure information stored on the secure portable reference, the secure information being necessary to access the medical images stored on the two or more databases;

request the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from the two or more databases using the secure information stored on the secure portable reference within the USB thumb drive;

receive the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from the two or more databases associated with the secure information stored on the secure portable reference within the USB thumb drive; and

provide a user interface for the client device, configured to in response to receiving the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images, process and display the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from the two or more databases associated with the secure information stored on the secure portable reference; and

expiring and rendering unusable the secure portable reference after a configurable number of uses of the secure portable reference to retrieve the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from the two or more databases.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in the secure portable reference within the USB thumb drive, computer-executable instructions configured to obtain a set of one or more personal identification numbers for the individual for each of the two or more databases;

using the set of one or more personal identification numbers to encrypt the secure information used to access the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images stored on the two or more databases;

storing, in the secure portable reference within the USB thumb drive, the set of one or more personal identification numbers in the secure information; and

storing, in the secure portable reference within the USB thumb drive, computer-executable instructions configured to use the set of one or more personal identification numbers when requesting the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from the two or more databases.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the secure portable reference further comprises at least:

one or more sets of link data, wherein the sets of link data comprise unique resource location information for the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images held at two or more databases; and

a linking module configured to enable access to the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images using at least the unique resource location information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the secure portable reference further comprises within the USB thumb drive all of the following:

a unique identification number for the individual;

one or more distinct identifiers corresponding to two or more databases where the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images are stored;

a date recorded timestamp;

a last accessed timestamp;

an expiration date timestamp;

a total access counter to indicate the number of times the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images has been accessed; and

an expiration counter to indicate the maximum number of times the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images may be accessed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first personal identification number comprises selecting the first personal identification number by a user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first personal identification number comprises generating the first personal identification number by a medical DICOM images repository.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the secure portable reference on a single portable storage medium.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the secure portable reference via email.

12. The USB thumb drive comprising the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the secure portable reference comprises at least the following data:

one or more sets of link data, wherein the sets of link data comprise unique resource location information for the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images held at two more databases; and

a linking module configured to enable access to the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images using at least the unique resource location information.

9. A USB thumb drive comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for accessing an individual'"'"'s medical digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) images, said computer-executable instructions, when running on one or more computers, perform a method comprising:

interfacing a secure portable reference associated with an individual to a client device after connection of the USB thumb drive to the client device, the USB thumb drive comprising the secure portable reference;

displaying, within a web browser, a first web user interface for the client device to prompt a user to input a personal identification number;

receiving a personal identification number from the user through the first user interface on the client device interfaced to the secure portable reference;

using the personal identification number and a security module stored in the secure portable reference to decrypt secure information stored on the secure portable reference;

requesting the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from two or more databases associated with the secure information stored on the secure portable reference, the two or more databases requiring the decrypted secure information to allow access to the medical DICOM images;

receiving the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from the two or more databases associated with the secure information stored on the secure portable reference;

in response to receiving the medical DICOM images, displaying within the web browser a second web user interface for the client device, the second user interface configured to display the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from the two or more databases associated with the secure information stored on the secure portable reference; and

expiring and rendering unusable the secure portable reference after a configurable number of uses of the secure portable reference to retrieve the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images from the two or more databases.

10. The USB thumb drive comprising the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for accessing an individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images, is a single portable storage medium.

11. The USB thumb drive comprising the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the secure portable reference is associated with an email message.

13. The USB thumb drive comprising the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the secure portable reference further comprises all of the following:

a unique identification number for the individual;

one or more distinct identification numbers corresponding to two or more databases where the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images are stored;

a date recorded timestamp;

a last accessed timestamp;

an expiration date timestamp

a total access counter to indicate the number of times the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images has been accessed; and

an expiration counter to indicate the maximum number of times the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images may be accessed.

14. The USB thumb drive comprising the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises determining that access to the individual'"'"'s medical DICOM images has expired by comparing the total access counter to the expiration counter.