Privacy-Aware Cloud Architecture for Collaborative Use of Patients’ Health Information

Abstract

Cloud computing appears to be the dreamed-of vision of the healthcare industry; it refers to means of storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of the computer’s hard drive. However, the adoption of cloud computing requires solving several issues, and information privacy is a major one. This work proposes a cloud architecture design for the healthcare information system. The proposed architecture enables storing and sharing information in a privacy-preserving manner. Patients’ information in the proposed architecture is divided into four categories identified in the case study data analysis. User identity management protocol (U-IDM) is employed for controlling access to patients’ information, and patients have means of control over who can access their information. A scenario-based instantiation validated the proposed architecture’s privacy-preserving patient data exchange. The instantiation proved that the proposed architecture allows sharing healthcare information without violating the privacy of patients.