Privacy in electronic health records: a systematic mapping study

Abstract

Main Electronic health record (EHR) applications are digital versions of paper-based patient health information. Traditionally, medical records are made on paper. However, nowadays, advances in information and communication technology have made it possible to change medical records from paper to EHR. Therefore, preserving user data privacy is extremely important in healthcare environments. The main challenges are providing ways to make EHR systems increasingly capable of ensuring data privacy and at the same time not compromising the performance and interoperability of these systems. Subject and methods This systematic mapping study intends to investigate the current research on security and privacy requirements in EHR systems and identify potential research gaps in the literature. The main challenges are providing ways to make EHR systems increasingly capable of ensuring data privacy, and at the same time, not compromising the performance and interoperability of these systems. Our research was carried out in the Scopus database, the largest database of abstracts and citations in the literature with peer review. Results We have collected 848 articles related to the area. After disambiguation and filtering, we selected 30 articles for analysis. The result of such an analysis provides a comprehensive view of current research. Conclusions We can highlight some relevant research possibilities. First, we noticed a growing interest in privacy in EHR research in the last 6 years. Second, blockchain has been used in many EHR systems as a solution to achieve data privacy. However, it is a challenge to maintain traceability by recording metadata that can be mapped to private data of the users applying a particular mapping function that can be hosted outside the blockchain. Finally, the lack of a systematic approach between EHR solutions and existing laws or policies leads to better strategies for developing a certification process for EHR systems.

Disease-Agnostic Electronic Adherence Aid for Subcutaneous at-Home and Self-Administration Devices─The Lowest Common Denominator Based on a Cross-Indication Survey

“…To realize such a comprehensive treatment management tool, several challenges must be addressed. Primarily, integrating patient data from diverse sources, particularly diagnostic and treatment tools, necessitates strict compliance with data privacy regulations. , Ensuring the security of this sensitive health information is vital to safeguarding patient privacy. Within this context, it is imperative to clearly define data ownership and sharing protocols among stakeholders including patients, providers, and researchers.…”

Design a Software Reference Architecture to Enhance Privacy and Security in Electronic Health Records

“…After conducting the classiőcation, we purposefully proceeded to the design phase of our SRA to enhance the privacy and security requirements in the EHRs. Furthermore, we considered the main components and connections between them discovered through the systematic mapping study [10]. Therefore, concepts from software architecture design methods were used to establish and document this SRA.…”

“…Whereas the privacy layer contains the modules: Access Control, Emergency Access, Consent, and Anonymization. Hence, these requirements provide privacy for EHR users [10].…”

Cybersecurity for Sustainable Smart Healthcare: State of the Art, Taxonomy, Mechanisms, and Essential Roles

“…Healthcare users, IoMT devices, and SHSs must all be verified using robust methods [99]. According to Da Silva et al [159] and Alzu'bi et al [160], authentication-based techniques are methods and technologies used to verify healthcare users' credentials against data stored in the system database and determine if the credentials match, ensuring that only authorized users have access to sensitive healthcare data and services. To prevent medical information from being disclosed to unauthorized entities, healthcare users and IoMT devices must be authenticated in SHSs [139].…”