System and method for cascading token generation and data de-identification

1. A computer-implemented method for de-identifying records received from a plurality of clients, each of the plurality of clients associated with a client tag unique to the client and a plurality of records including identifying data for a plurality of individuals, comprising:

receiving a record for an individual from at least one data storage device associated with a client, the record comprising a plurality of data elements identifying the individual;

generating, with at least one processor, a token based at least partially on the plurality of data elements and a client tag uniquely identifying the client among the plurality of clients;

creating, with at least one processor, a de-identified record comprising a portion of the record and the token;

matching, with at least one processor, the token or a new token based on the token to at least one other token in a database, the at least one other token generated based on the client tag and associated with at least one other de-identified record for the individual; and

linking, with at least one processor, the de-identified record to the at least one other de-identified record in at least one data storage device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the token comprises hashing at least one data element of the plurality of data elements with the client tag uniquely identifying the client.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein hashing the at least one data element with the client tag comprises hashing the client tag with at least one of the following: a first data element of the plurality of data elements, each data element of the plurality of data elements, an initial token generated based at least partially on the plurality of data elements, or any combination thereof.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the token comprises:

generating, with at least one processor, an initial token based at least partially on the plurality of data elements; and

generating, with at least one processor, the token based at least partially on the initial token and the client tag.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the token is generated based at least partially by combining, incorporating, XORing, and/or hashing the client tag with at least one data element of the plurality of data elements or a previous token generated based at least partially on at least one data element of the plurality of data elements.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the client tag comprises a client name or is generated based at least partially on a client name.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising identifying a configuration file associated with the client, the configuration file comprising the client name.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, with at least one processor, a checksum based at least partially on the client tag; and

associating the de-identified record with the checksum.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving, generating, and creating steps are performed on a data supplier computer, and wherein the matching and linking steps are performed by a data processing entity computer.

10. A computer program product for de-identifying records received from a plurality of clients, each of the plurality of clients associated with a client tag unique to the client and a plurality of records including identifying data for a plurality of individuals, comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

receive a record for an individual from at least one data storage device associated with a client, the record comprising a plurality of data elements identifying an individual;

generate a token based at least partially on the plurality of data elements and a client tag uniquely identifying the client among the plurality of clients;

create a de-identified record comprising a portion of the record and the token;

match the token or a new token based on the token to at least one other token in a database, the at least one other token generated based on the client tag and associated with at least one other de-identified record for the individual; and

link the de-identified record to the at least one other de-identified record in at least one data storage device.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the token is generated by hashing at least one data element of the plurality of data elements with the client tag uniquely identifying the client.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein hashing the at least one data element with the client tag comprises hashing the client tag with at least one of the following: a first data element of the plurality of data elements, each data element of the plurality of data elements, an initial token generated based at least partially on the plurality of data elements, or any combination thereof.

13. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein generating the token comprises:

generating an initial token based at least partially on the plurality of data elements; and

generating the token based at least partially on the initial token and the client tag.

14. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the token is generated based at least partially by combining, incorporating, XORing, and/or hashing the client tag with at least one data element of the plurality of data elements or a previous token generated based at least partially on at least one data element of the plurality of data elements.

15. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the client tag comprises a client name or is generated based at least partially on a client name.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising identifying a configuration file associated with the client, the configuration file comprising the client name.

17. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

generate a checksum based at least partially on the client tag; and

associate the de-identified record with the checksum.

18. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprises a first medium and a second medium, the first medium comprising a de-identification engine programmed to receive the record, generate the token, and create the de-identified record, the second medium comprising a matching engine programmed to match the token and link the record.

19. A system for de-identifying records received from a plurality of clients, each of the plurality of clients associated with a client tag unique to the client and a plurality of records including identifying data for a plurality of individuals, comprising:

(a) a data supplier computer comprising at least one processor and a de-identification engine, the de-identification engine configured to:

(i) receive a record for an individual from at least one data storage device associated with a client, the record comprising a plurality of data elements identifying an individual; and

(ii) generate a token based at least partially on the plurality of data elements and a client tag uniquely identifying the client; and

(b) a data processing entity computer remote from the data supplier computer, the data processing computer comprising at least one processor configured to:

(i) match the token or a new token based on the token to at least one other token in a database, the at least one other token generated based on the client tag and associated with at least one other de-identified record for the individual; and

(ii) link a de-identified record comprising a portion of the record and the token to the at least one other de-identified record in at least one data storage device.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein at least one of the de-identification engine and the data processing entity computer is programmed or configured to create the de-identified record based at least partially on the portion of the record and the token.