Ensuring the security and privacy of information in mobile health-care communication systems

The sensitivity of health-care information and its accessibility via the Internet and mobile technology systems is a cause for concern in these modern times. The privacy, integrity and confidentiality of a patient’s data are key factors to be considered in the transmission of medical information for use by authorised health-care personnel. Mobile communication has enabled medical consultancy, treatment, drug administration and the provision of laboratory results to take place outside the hospital. With the implementation of electronic patient records and the Internet and Intranets, medical information sharing amongst relevant health-care providers was made possible. But the vital issue in this method of information sharing is security: the patient’s privacy, as well as the confidentiality and integrity of the health-care information system, should not be compromised. We examine various ways of ensuring the security and privacy of a patient’s electronic medical information in order to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the information

Comparative study of healthcare messaging standards for interoperability in ehealth systems

Advances in the information and communication technology have created the field of "health informatics," which amalgamates healthcare, information technology and business. The use of information systems in healthcare organisations dates back to 1960s, however the use of technology for healthcare records, referred to as Electronic Medical Records (EMR), management has surged since 1990’s (Net-Health, 2017) due to advancements the internet and web technologies. Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and sometimes referred to as Personal Health Record (PHR) contains the patient’s medical history, allergy information, immunisation status, medication, radiology images and other medically related billing information that is relevant. There are a number of benefits for healthcare industry when sharing these data recorded in EMR and PHR systems between medical institutions (AbuKhousa et al., 2012). These benefits include convenience for patients and clinicians, cost-effective healthcare solutions, high quality of care, resolving the resource shortage and collecting a large volume of data for research and educational needs. My Health Record (MyHR) is a major project funded by the Australian government, which aims to have all data relating to health of the Australian population stored in digital format, allowing clinicians to have access to patient data at the point of care. Prior to 2015, MyHR was known as Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR). Though the Australian government took consistent initiatives there is a significant delay (Pearce and Haikerwal, 2010) in implementing eHealth projects and related services. While this delay is caused by many factors, interoperability is identified as the main problem (Benson and Grieve, 2016c) which is resisting this project delivery. To discover the current interoperability challenges in the Australian healthcare industry, this comparative study is conducted on Health Level 7 (HL7) messaging models such as HL7 V2, V3 and FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources). In this study, interoperability, security and privacy are main elements compared. In addition, a case study conducted in the NSW Hospitals to understand the popularity in usage of health messaging standards was utilised to understand the extent of use of messaging standards in healthcare sector. Predominantly, the project used the comparative study method on different HL7 (Health Level Seven) messages and derived the right messaging standard which is suitable to cover the interoperability, security and privacy requirements of electronic health record. The issues related to practical implementations, change over and training requirements for healthcare professionals are also discussed