Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Hipaa Compliant Distributed Data”, for Approval (USPTO 20220116357): Patent Application

2022 APR 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventor Rudolph, Volker (Munich, DE), filed on October 6, 2021, was made available online on April 14, 2022.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “A problem with structured data storage is the ability to maintain confidentiality when and if the data store is hacked or compromised. This is most readily apparent for the storage of medical information, where the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) provides for a very high degree of privacy even within a single institution.

“For operations like securing vaccination trial records, large record sets of medical research data needs to be scrubbed of personal identification information (PII) before it can be shared to protect a person’s medical history and treatment.

“Presented herein are systems and methods for addressing these well-known deficiencies in data management of personal identifiable information.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent application: “Disclosed herein are systems and methods for storing patient medical information on a local processing device, anonymizing a portion of that medical information and storing it on a second processing device, exposing that anonymized medical information to a third processing device coupled to the second processing device through a network, and restricting users of the third processing device to only accessing HIPAA compliant medical information. Alarms are included for indicating the improper transfer of HIPAA data.

“Some embodiments may be system for securing data including a user interface operable to receive medical information including a patient and a patient medical data with personally identifiable information (PII) and store it in a first structured data store having local index. A second structured data store may be included operable to receive some of the medical data, including anonymized medical data, and a second index that is different from the local index, so the local index and the second index are configured to only allow for one-way indexing.

“The system may also include a multi-layered firewall separating the first structured data store and the second structured data store. The multi-level firewall securing the local structured data store in a first zone and the second structured data store in a second zone. An alarm engine alerts when PII has crossed from a first zone to the second zone.

“The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objectives and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for securing data including: a user interface, said user interface operable to receive medical information including a patient and a patient medical data including a personally identifiable information (PII) and store it in a first structured data store, said first structured data store including a local index; a second structured data store operable to receive a portion of the medical data, said second structured data store including anonymized medical data, and a second index different from the local index; wherein the local index and the second index are configured to only allow for one-way indexing; a multi-layered firewall separating the first structured data store and the second structured data store, said multi-level firewall securing the local structured data store in a first zone and the second structured data store in a second zone, and an alarm engine, said alarm engine operable to alert when PII has crossed from a first zone to the second zone.

“2. The system of claim 1 further including: a subscriber identity module (SIM) and a SIM reader, said SIM encoded with medical information from a verified source, wherein the SIM reader is operable to transfer medical information on the SIM to the first structured data store.

“3. The system of claim 1 wherein the multi-level firewall includes security at the open systems interconnection (OSI) application layer and the OSI network layer.

“4. The system of claim 1 wherein the alarm engine monitors network traffic for known PII.

“5. The system of claim 1 wherein the local index and the second index are related to each other through a third structured data store.

“6. A method for providing secure data including: receiving medical information at a server, said server coupled to a network, said medical information including a patient and a patient medical data including a personally identifiable information (PII); storing the medical information in a first structured data store, said first structured data store including a local index; anonymizing the medical information and storing it in a second structured data store, said second structured data store including a second index different from the local index, wherein the local index and the second index and configured to only allow for one-way indexing; separating the first structured data store and the second structured data store with a multi-layered firewall, said multi-level firewall securing the local structured data store in a first zone and the second structured data store in a second zone, and indicating an alarm when PII has crossed from a first zone to the second zone.

“7. The method of claim 6 further including: reading a subscriber identity module encoded with medical information from a verified source, wherein the medical information on the SIM is transferred to the first structured data store.

“8. The method of claim 6 wherein the multi-level firewall includes security at the open systems interconnection (OSI) application layer and the OSI network layer.

“9. The method of claim 6 wherein the alarm engine monitors network traffic for known PII.

“10. One or more machine-readable storage devices encoded with non-transitory instructions directing a processor to perform a method including: receiving medical information, said medical information including a patient and a patient medical data including a personally identifiable information (PII); storing the medical information in a first structured data store, said first structured data store including a local index; anonymizing the medical information and storing it in a second structured data store, said second structured data store including a second index different from the local index, wherein the local index and the second index and configured to only allow for one-way indexing; separating the first structured data store and the second structured data store with a multi-layered firewall, said multi-level firewall securing the local structured data store in a first zone and the second structured data store in a second zone, and indicating an alarm when PII has crossed from a first zone to the second zone.

“11. The method of claim 10 further including: reading a subscriber identity module encoded with medical information from a verified source, wherein the medical information on the SIM is transferred to the first structured data store.

“12. The method of claim 10 wherein the multi-level firewall includes security at the open systems interconnection (OSI) application layer and the OSI network layer.

“13. The method of claim 10 wherein the alarm engine monitors network traffic for known PII.

“14. The method of claim 10 further including: relating the local index to the second index through a third structured data store.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Rudolph, Volker. Hipaa Compliant Distributed Data. Filed October 6, 2021 and posted April 14, 2022. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220220116357%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20220116357&RS=DN/20220116357

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