Protected health care data marketing system and method

1. A computer-implemented method for importing protected healthcare marketing data, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the computer, healthcare-marketing-related plaintext data values structured according to a plurality of source fields of a plurality of field types;

storing said healthcare-marketing-related plaintext data values into a protected healthcare-marketing data record having a plurality of data fields corresponding respectively to said plurality of source fields, wherein storing said healthcare-marketing-related data into said protected healthcare-marketing data record includes, for each of said plurality of source fields:

determining, by the computer, whether the current source field is of a PHI type that includes protected health information (“PHI”); and

when the current source field is determined to be of said PHI type, the computer encrypting the current-source-field plaintext value and storing the current-source-field encrypted value in a corresponding data field of said protected healthcare-marketing data record;

storing at least some of said healthcare-marketing-related data into a protected healthcare-marketing search record having a plurality of search fields corresponding respectively to at least some of said plurality of source fields, wherein storing at least some of said healthcare-marketing-related data into said protected healthcare-marketing search record includes, for each of said plurality of source fields:

determining, by the computer, whether the current source field is of a searchable type that includes searchable information; and

when the current source field is determined to be of said searchable type, the computer deriving a current-source-field hash value from the current-source-field plaintext value and storing said current-source-field hash value in a corresponding search field of said protected healthcare-marketing search record; and

associating said protected healthcare-marketing search record with said protected healthcare-marketing data record.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing said healthcare-marketing-related data into a protected healthcare-marketing data record further comprises: when the current field is determined to be of a non-PHI type that does not include PHI, storing the current field plaintext value in said corresponding field of said protected healthcare-marketing data record.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein deriving said current-source-field hash value from the current-source-field plaintext value comprises:

conforming the current-source-field plaintext value to a field-type-specific data standard to obtain a standardized plaintext value; and

mapping the resulting standardized plaintext value to said current-source-field hash value using a cryptographic hash function.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing at least some of said healthcare-marketing-related data into a protected healthcare-marketing search record further comprises, when the current source field is determined to be of said searchable type:

obtaining a plurality of non-search terms; and

prior to deriving said current-source-field hash value, stripping at least one of said plurality of non-search terms from said current-source-field plaintext value.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein deriving said current-source-field hash value from the current-source-field plaintext value comprises:

identifying a plurality of plaintext searchable terms within said current-source-field plaintext value; and

respectively deriving a plurality of hash values (including said current-source-field hash value) from said plurality of plaintext searchable terms.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein storing said current-source-field hash value in a corresponding search field of said protected healthcare-marketing search record comprises:

respectively storing said plurality of hash values in a plurality of search fields of said protected healthcare-marketing search record, each of said plurality of search fields of said protected healthcare-marketing search record corresponding to the current source field.

7. A non-transient computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to perform the method of claim 1 .

8. A computing apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the apparatus to perform the method of claim 1 .

9. A computer-implemented method for accessing protected healthcare-marketing data records stored in a healthcare-marketing data table of a healthcare-marketing database, the healthcare-marketing data records each comprising a plurality of healthcare-marketing protected-data fields that include protected health information, the method comprising:

receiving, by the computer from a healthcare-marketer device, a plaintext query describing a set of the healthcare-marketing data records via at least one query predicate comprising a predicate plaintext value and a predicate field identifier corresponding to a data field of said set of healthcare-marketing data records;

determining, by the computer, a hashed query predicate comprising said predicate field identifier and a predicate hash value derived from said predicate plaintext value via a hash function;

using said hashed query predicate, the computer querying a healthcare-marketing search table of said healthcare-marketing database, said healthcare-marketing search table storing healthcare-marketing search records that correspond respectively to the healthcare-marketing data records, said healthcare-marketing search records each comprising a plurality of search fields that respectively correspond to at least some of the plurality of healthcare-marketing protected-data fields, each of said plurality of search fields including a searchable hash value derived via said hash function from a plaintext form of a corresponding one of the healthcare-marketing protected-data fields;

in response to querying said healthcare-marketing search table, the computer receiving from the healthcare-marketing database a set of said healthcare-marketing search results that correspond to said set of the healthcare-marketing data records described by said plaintext query;

using said set of said healthcare-marketing search results, the computer identifying said set of the healthcare-marketing data records from the healthcare-marketing database;

generating, by the computer, a set of anonymized results corresponding to said set of the healthcare-marketing data records; and

in response to receiving said plaintext query, the computer providing said set of anonymized results to said healthcare-marketer device.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating said set of anonymized results comprises redacting the protected health information included in the plurality of healthcare-marketing protected-data fields of said set of the healthcare-marketing data records.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

receiving an indication from said healthcare-marketer device to generate a plurality of personalized marketing messages corresponding respectively to said set of anonymized results;

without exposing the protected health information to said healthcare-marketer device, the computer accessing the protected health information associated with said set of the healthcare-marketing data records; and

based at least in part on said indication and on the accessed protected health information, generating said plurality of personalized marketing messages.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising electronically sending said plurality of personalized marketing messages to a plurality of individuals respectively associated with said set of the healthcare-marketing data records.

13. A non-transient computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to perform the method of claim 9 .

14. A computing apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the apparatus to perform the method of claim 9 .