System and method for creation of persistent patient identification
View Patent ↗Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for creating source-specific, persistent patient identifiers for healthcare service providers. One method includes accessing a record of healthcare data, wherein the record includes patient identifying information (PII) associated with one or more persons to whom the healthcare data pertains. The portions of PII included in the accessed record of healthcare data are extracted from the accessed record and encrypted. Based on one or more business rules, one or more hashed tokens are created by applying one or more hashing functions to the extracted portions of PII. A source-specific identifier is received, the source-specific identifier having been encoded in a manner specific to an organization associated with the computer system and having been encoded with reference to the one or more hashed tokens. An association is stored between the source-specific identifier and the accessed record of healthcare data.
1. A method comprising:
accessing, with a source-side system, a record of healthcare data, wherein the record includes patient identifying information (PII) associated with one or more persons to whom the healthcare data pertains;
extracting, with the source-side system, portions of PII included in the accessed record of healthcare data;
encrypting, with the source-side system, the extracted portions of PII;
creating, with the source-side system, one or more hashed tokens by applying one or more hashing functions to the extracted portions of PII;
providing, by the source-side system, the one or more hashed tokens to a collection-side system;
determining, by the collection-side system, a match between:
a first hashed token of the one or more hashed tokens received from the source-side system, and
a second hashed token for a previously processed de-identified healthcare record; and
generating, by the collection-side system, a source-specific identifier based on the determined match, wherein the source-specific identifier is generated by:
retrieving an indexing tag that is stored in association with the previously processed de-identified healthcare record; and
encoding the indexing tag to link de-identified healthcare records that correspond to the same person, wherein the indexing tag is encoded,
(i) using a computing rule specific to the source-side system, wherein the computing rule is used to encode the indexing tag with reference to a formatting of the portions of PII extracted from the accessed record of healthcare data, and
(ii) based on a hashing function used to create the first hashed token;
receiving, with the source-side system, the source-specific identifier from the collection-side system; and
storing an association between the source-specific identifier and the accessed record of healthcare data.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
searching, with the source-side system, for one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated;
based on the search, identifying, with the source-side system, one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated; and
storing an association between the accessed record of healthcare data and the identified one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, with the source-side system, the one or more hashed tokens to the collection-side system, wherein the collection-side system is configured to create the source-specific identifier and wherein the source-side system receives the source-specific identifier from the collection-side system.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
de-identifying, with the source-side system, the accessed healthcare record; and
transmitting, with the source-side system, the de-identified healthcare record to a third computer system, wherein the source-side system, the collection-side system, and the third computer systems are each located and operated separately from each other.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the source-specific identifier comprises:
generating the source-specific identifier based on a specific computing rule that is used to encode the indexing tag in a manner specific to the source of the received one or more hashed tokens, such that source-specific identifier is configured for use only by the source of the received one or more hashed tokens.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein creating the one or more hashed tokens comprises:
concatenating multiple portions of the extracted portions of PII into a specific number of strings, the specific number of strings being determined based on a type and a content of the PII included in the record of healthcare data.
7. A system comprising:
one or more processors and one or more storage devices, wherein the one or more storage devices store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
accessing, with a source-side system, a record of healthcare data, wherein the record includes patient identifying information (PII) associated with one or more persons to whom the healthcare data pertains;
extracting, with the source-side system, portions of PII included in the accessed record of healthcare data;
encrypting, with the source-side system, the extracted portions of PII;
creating, with the source-side system, one or more hashed tokens by applying one or more hashing functions to the extracted portions of PII;
providing, by the source-side system, the one or more hashed tokens to a collection-side system;
determining, by the collection-side system, a match between:
a first hashed token of the one or more hashed tokens received from the source-side system, and
a second hashed token for a previously processed de-identified healthcare record; and
generating, by the collection-side system, a source-specific identifier based on the determined match, wherein the source-specific identifier is generated by:
retrieving an indexing tag that is stored in association with the previously processed de-identified healthcare record; and
encoding the indexing tag to link de-identified healthcare records that correspond to the same person, wherein the indexing tag is encoded;
(i) using a computing rule specific to the source-side system, wherein the computing rule is used to encode the indexing tag with reference to a formatting of the portions of PII extracted from the accessed record of healthcare data, and
(ii) based on a hashing function used to create the first hashed token;
receiving, with the source-side system, the source-specific identifier from the collection-side system; and
storing an association between the source-specific identifier and the accessed record of healthcare data.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:
comparing, with the collection-side system, the received one or more hashed tokens to one or more previously received hashed tokens;
based on the comparison of the received one or more hashed tokens to the one or more previously received hashed tokens, identifying, with the collection-side system, the indexing tag as being related to the received one or more hashed tokens; and
encoding the indexing tag in a manner specific to the organization associated with the source-side system.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
de-identifying, with the source-side system, the accessed record of healthcare data; and
transmitting, with the source-side system, the de-identified record of healthcare data.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving, at a third computer system and from the collection-side system, the identified indexing tag;
receiving, at the third computer system, the de-identified record of healthcare data; and
storing, at the third computer system, an association between the received indexing tag and the received de-identified record of healthcare data.
11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:
searching, with the source-side system, for one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated;
based on the search, identifying, with the source-side system, one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated; and
storing an association between the accessed record of healthcare data and the identified one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated.
12. The system of claim 7 , wherein generating the source-specific identifier comprises:
generating the source-specific identifier based on a specific computing rule that is used to encode the indexing tag in a manner specific to the source of the received one or more hashed tokens, such that source-specific identifier is configured for use only by the source of the received one or more hashed tokens.
13. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to cause performance of operations comprising:
accessing, with a source-side system, a record of healthcare data, wherein the record includes patient identifying information (PII) associated with one or more persons to whom the healthcare data pertains;
extracting, with the source-side system, portions of PII included in the accessed record of healthcare data;
encrypting, with the source-side system, the extracted portions of PII;
creating, with the source-side system, one or more hashed tokens by applying one or more hashing functions to the extracted portions of PII;
providing, by the source-side system, the one or more hashed tokens to a collection-side system;
determining, by the collection-side system, a match between:
a first hashed token of the one or more hashed tokens received from the source-side system, and
a second hashed token for a previously processed de-identified healthcare record; and
generating, by the collection-side system, a source-specific identifier based on the determined match, wherein the source-specific identifier is generated by:
retrieving an indexing tag that is stored in association with the previously processed de-identified healthcare record; and
encoding the indexing tag to link de-identified healthcare records that correspond to the same person, wherein the indexing tag is encoded;
(i) using a computing rule specific to the source-side system, wherein the computing rule is used to encode the indexing tag with reference to a formatting of the portions of PII extracted from the accessed record of healthcare data, and
(ii) based on a hashing function used to create the first hashed token;
receiving, with the source-side system, the source-specific identifier from the collection-side system; and
storing an association between the source-specific identifier and the accessed record of healthcare data.
14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
searching, with the source-side system, for one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated;
based on the search, identifying, with the source-side system, one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated; and
storing an association between the accessed record of healthcare data and the identified one or more other records of healthcare data with which the source-specific identifier has been previously associated.
15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
transmitting, with the source-side system, the one or more hashed tokens to the collection-side system, wherein the collection-side system is configured to create the source-specific identifier and wherein the source-side system receives the source-specific identifier from the collection-side system.
16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
de-identifying, with the source-side system, the accessed healthcare record; and
transmitting, with the source-side system, the de-identified healthcare record to a third computer system, wherein the source-side system, the collection-side system, and the third computer systems are each located and operated separately from each other.