{"133281":{"#nid":"133281","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Developing technologies to protect security and privacy of electronic health information","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInformation sharing requires that partners establish broad electronic trust among the caretakers of critical information and those who need and are authorized to use that information.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers from Georgia Tech teamed with Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University\u2019s Center for Comprehensive Informatics to develop technologies that will protect the security and privacy of electronic health information.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cStoring medical records in electronic format and sharing them among different health care organizations has the potential to produce enormous improvements in the quality and efficiency of the health care system, but unauthorized disclosure of the information has the potential to damage lives and harm careers,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/about\/personnel\/bio.php?id=14\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDouglas Blough\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThrough a project called\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/medvault.gtisc.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMedVault\u003C\/a\u003E, Blough and professors\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.scs.gatech.edu\/people\/mustaque-ahamad\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMustaque Ahamad\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.scs.gatech.edu\/people\/ling-liu\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELing Liu\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;of the School of Computer Science at Georgia Tech are developing a broad set of information security and privacy tools that can be integrated with electronic health records systems and work flows. MedVault is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith health information exchanges popping up across the country, individuals will begin sharing health documents with various health care system entities, which will need to verify the source and trustworthiness of the documents. MedVault researchers developed a system that uses redactable signature technology for source-verifiable, patient-controlled information sharing. The system enables documents digitally signed by a health care provider to be authenticated, while at the same time invisibly deleting information a patient wants to keep confidential.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis technology could be especially valuable, for example, to parents who need certified health records to enroll a child in school, college, summer camp or other activity because parents would just need this one digitally signed document and could use it in many different ways,\u201d explained Blough.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research team also designed a policy combination and conflict resolution system that can examine the policies of multiple health care entities and ensure they are all followed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEach organization with a health information exchange may have a different policy about what information in their system can be disclosed under specific circumstances and patients might want to set their own disclosure controls, and all of these policies must be enforced. Our system combines these multiple policies and resolves any conflicts,\u201d added Blough.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe MedVault team is working to ensure that these technologies are seamlessly integrated with the overall health system and its medical processes to provide strong security and privacy while assuring patient safety.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E Georgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E 75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003E Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E Abby Robinson (abby@innovate.gatech.edu; 404-385-3364) or John Toon (jtoon@gatech.edu; 404-894-6986)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter: \u003C\/strong\u003EAbby Robinson\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThrough a project called\u0026nbsp;MedVault, researchers\u0026nbsp;are developing a broad set of information security and privacy tools that can be integrated with electronic health records systems and work flows.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Through a project called MedVault, researchers are developing a broad set of information security and privacy tools that can be integrated with electronic health records systems and work flows."}],"uid":"27206","created_gmt":"2012-05-30 20:57:28","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:18","author":"Abby Vogel Robinson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-09-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-09-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1404","name":"Cybersecurity"},{"id":"34771","name":"Douglas Blough"},{"id":"8677","name":"health information technology"},{"id":"15312","name":"health it"},{"id":"31461","name":"ling liu"},{"id":"34791","name":"medical record"},{"id":"34781","name":"MedVault"},{"id":"11017","name":"Mustaque Ahamad"},{"id":"166855","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAbby Robinson\u003Cbr \/\u003E Research News and Publications\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:abby@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eabby@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E 404-385-3364\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}