Journal:Emerging and established trends to support secure health information exchange
| Full article title | Emerging and established trends to support secure health information exchange |
|---|---|
| Journal | Frontiers in Digital Health |
| Author(s) | Spanakis, Emmanouil, G.; Sfakianakis, Stelios; Bonomi, Silvia; Ciccotelli, Claudio; Magalini, Sabina; Sakkalis, Vangelis |
| Author affiliation(s) | Foundation for Research and Technology, Sapienza Università di Roma, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli |
| Primary contact | Email: spanakis at ics dot forth dot gr |
| Editors | Pattichis, Constantinos S. |
| Year published | 2021 |
| Volume and issue | 3 |
| Article # | 636082 |
| DOI | 10.3389/fdgth.2021.636082 |
| ISSN | 2673-253X |
| Distribution license | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
| Website | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2021.636082/full |
| Download | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2021.636082/pdf (PDF) |
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Abstract
This work aims to provide information, guidelines, established practices and standards, and an extensive evaluation on new and promising technologies for the implementation of a secure information sharing platform for health-related data. We focus strictly on the technical aspects and specifically on the sharing of health information, studying innovative techniques for secure information sharing within the healthcare domain, and we describe our solution and evaluate the use of blockchain methodologically for integrating within our implementation. To do so, we analyze health information sharing within the concept of the PANACEA project, which facilitates the design, implementation, and deployment of a relevant platform. The research presented in this paper provides evidence and argumentation toward advanced and novel implementation strategies for a state-of-the-art information sharing environment; a description of high-level requirements for the national and cross-border transfer of data between different healthcare organizations; technologies to support the secure interconnectivity and trust between information technology (IT) systems participating in a data-sharing “community”; standards, guidelines, and interoperability specifications for implementing a common understanding and integration in the sharing of clinical information; and the use of cloud computing and prospectively more advanced technologies such as blockchain. The technologies described and the possible implementation approaches are presented in the design of an innovative secure information sharing platform in the healthcare domain.
Introduction
Information technology (IT) has long been identified as a cornerstone for efficient, cost-saving, timely, and reliable healthcare delivery. (1, 2) The availability of healthcare information and patient records in digital form facilitates the persistence and posterity of valuable information and greatly supports the decision-making process, and even the extraction of new knowledge at both the individual and population levels. In our previous work, we have emphasized the current state of the art about cybersecurity in the healthcare domain, with emphasis on current threats and methodologies. (3) Paraphrasing the famous words of John Donne, “no IT system is an island, entire of itself.” Today, in a highly connected world where geographic boundaries have been largely eliminated and people can freely move between cities, states, countries, or continents, the requirement for two different information management systems to exchange a person's clinical data or medical history becomes vital and persistent. Sharing health information (e.g., via health information exchange [HIE]) through electronic means greatly improves the cost, quality, and patient experience of healthcare delivery.
References
Notes
This presentation is faithful to the original, with only a few minor changes to presentation, though grammar and word usage was substantially updated for improved readability. In some cases important information was missing from the references, and that information was added.
