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T. Neubauer, J. Heurix:
"A methodology for the pseudonymization of medical data";
International Journal of Medical Informatics, 80 (2011), 3; 190 - 204.

E-health enables the sharing of patient-related data whenever and wherever necessary. Electronic health records (EHRs) promise to improve communication between health care providers, thus leading to better quality of patients´ treatment and reduced costs. However, as highly sensitive patient information provides a promising goal for attackers and is also frequently demanded by insurance companies and employers, there is increasing social and political pressure regarding the prevention of health data misuse. This work addresses this problem and introduces a methodology that protects health records from unauthorized access and lets the patient as data owner decide who the authorized persons are, i.e., who the patient discloses her health information to. Therefore, the methodology prevents data disclosure that negatively influences the patient's life (e.g., by being denied health insurance or employment).

Computer security, Information management, Electronic medical record, Privacy, Pseudonymization

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2010.10.016