A security architecture for interconnecting health information systems

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Computer Science
• Cybersecurity

Background:

• Chronic diseases require continuous, complex care across multiple healthcare units, leading to fragmented and large patient medical records.
• Scattered medical records hinder effective communication among healthcare professionals, impacting patient care.
• Web-based electronic medical records offer a solution for interconnecting healthcare units and centralizing patient information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel security architecture for web-based distributed systems, focusing on authentication and authorization.
• To address the security challenges posed by increased accessibility in electronic medical record systems.
• To facilitate secure information sharing among healthcare professionals for improved patient management.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a role-based access control scheme.
• Deployment of an intelligent security agent at each healthcare site (unit).
• Utilization of temporary certificates for assigning user access privileges.

Main Results:

• The security architecture provides robust authentication and authorization for web-based distributed systems.
• Intelligent security agents authenticate users, assign role-based access privileges, and manage inter-site communication.
• The system enables secure access to distributed patient medical records, improving healthcare professional communication.

Conclusions:

• The proposed security architecture effectively enhances the security of web-based distributed electronic medical record systems.
• Role-based access and intelligent agents are crucial for managing access control in complex healthcare networks.
• This approach supports seamless and secure information exchange, vital for managing patients with chronic diseases.