Medical data encryption for communication over a vulnerable system

• US 8,396,803 B1
• Filed: 08/01/2012
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Vocera Acquisition Corporation (Stryker Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mvisum Incorporated (Stryker Corporation)
• Inventors: Dala, Praveen, Dala, Seema
• Primary Examiner(s): Coppola, Jacob C.
• Application Number:
  US13/564,180
• Publication Number:
  US 20130060703A1
• Time in Patent Office: 223 Days
• Field of Search: 705/52
• US Class Current: 705/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• 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 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 705/901 Digital rights management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 705/904 Usage protection of distributed files
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 705/909 Usage charge determination

Abstract

A system for securing patient medical information for communication over a potentially vulnerable system includes separating patient'"'"'s medical file into a demographics layer and a data layer, separately encrypting the demographic layer and data layer using different encryption keys, and providing servers in a communication and processing system with a decryption key for the layer processed by such server. Medical file data may be separated into more than two layers. Users accessing the system are authenticated using standard techniques. By separately encrypting different parts of a patient medical record, processing and communication of patient medical files by intermediary servers is enabled without risking disclosure of sensitive patient information if such servers are compromised.

Claims

1. A system for communicating a medical record of a patient to a mobile device in compliance with HIPAA and HITECH regulations, comprising:

a console comprising a processor coupled to a network;

a mobile device; and

a server coupled to the network,

wherein the console further comprises a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the console processor, cause the console processor to perform a method comprising;

receiving a diagnostic image of the patient;

accessing the medical record of the patient;

receiving an operator input selecting a portion of the medical record and the diagnostic image for transmission to the mobile device;

separating the selected portion of the medical record and the diagnostic image into a plurality of layers including a demographic layer comprising demographic information selected from the medical record and a data layer comprising medical data and the selected first portion of the diagnostic image;

encrypting the demographic layer using a first encryption key;

encrypting the data layer using a second encryption key, wherein the second encryption key is different from the first encryption key; and

sending the encrypted demographic layer and data layer to the server,

wherein the server is capable of decrypting one of the encrypted demographic layer or the encrypted data layer but not both, and

wherein the server comprises a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the server processor, cause the server processor to perform a method comprising;

decrypting the data layer;

performing an operation on the data layer comprising selecting a second portion of the diagnostic image;

re-encrypting the data layer; and

sending the encrypted demographic layer and re-encrypted data layer to the mobile device via a wireless network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server memory stores instructions that, when executed by the server processor, cause the server processor to perform a method such that re-encrypting the data layer comprises re-encrypting the data layer with a third encryption key different from the first and second encryption keys.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a prescription server,

wherein the server memory stores instructions that, when executed by the server processor, cause the server processor to perform a method further comprising:

encrypting a prescription layer within the data layer using a fourth encryption key;

sending the encrypted demographic layer, data layer and prescription layer to the prescription server,

wherein the prescription server is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

decrypting the prescription layer but not either of the encrypted demographic layer and the data layer; and

performing a prescription operation on data within the prescription layer.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the server memory stores instructions that, when executed by the server processor, cause the server processor to perform a method such that performing an operation on the data layer comprises:

selecting a portion of the diagnostic image; and

formatting the selected portion of the diagnostic image to match display parameters of the mobile device,

wherein re-encrypting the data layer comprises re-encrypting the processed selected second portion of the diagnostic image.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile device, wherein the server memory stores instructions that, when executed by the server processor, cause the server processor to perform a method further comprising:

receiving from the mobile device a request for retransmission of a selected portion of the diagnostic image;

formatting the selected portion of the diagnostic image to match a display size and display parameters of the mobile device;

re-encrypting the formatted the selected portion of the diagnostic image; and

sending the re-encrypted formatted selected portion of the diagnostic image to the mobile device via the wireless network.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server memory stores instructions that, when executed by the server processor, cause the server processor to perform a method further comprising:

analyzing an EKG trace within the data layer to recognize a diagnostically significant pattern;

selecting a diagnostically significant portion of the EKG trace;

re-encrypting the selected diagnostically significant portion of the EKG trace; and

sending the re-encrypted selected diagnostically significant portion of the EKG trace to the mobile device via the wireless network.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the server memory stores instructions that, when executed by the server processor, cause the server processor to perform a method further comprising:

receiving a data selection criteria from the mobile device;

using the received data selection criteria to select a portion of the medical record of the patient from the data layer;

re-encrypting the selected portion of the medical record of the patient; and

sending the re-encrypted selected portion of the medical record of the patient to the mobile device via the wireless network.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the mobile device comprises:

a mobile device processor;

a mobile device memory coupled to the mobile device processor;

a display coupled to the mobile device processor; and

a wireless transceiver coupled to the processor and configured to communicate via the wireless network,

wherein the mobile device memory stores instructions that, when executed by the mobile device processor, cause the mobile device processor to perform a method comprising;

receiving the encrypted demographic layer and data layer via the wireless network;

decrypting the encrypted demographic layer using a first decryption key;

decrypting the data layer using a second decryption key different from the first decryption key; and

displaying on the display at least a portion of the decrypted demographic layer and at least a portion of the diagnostic image.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device memory stores instructions that, when executed by the mobile device processor, cause the mobile device processor to perform a method further comprising:

receiving a user input indicating a selected portion of the displayed diagnostic image;

generating a request for retransmission of the diagnostic image indicating the user selected portion of the diagnostic image to be retransmitted;

sending the request for retransmission of the diagnostic image to the server via the wireless network;

receiving the encrypted formatted selected portion of the diagnostic image from the server via the wireless network;

decrypting the received encrypted formatted selected portion of the diagnostic image; and

displaying the selected portion of the diagnostic image on the display.