A Global Medical Data Security and Privacy Preserving Standards Identification Framework for Electronic Healthcare Consumers

TL;DR

The paper addresses the problem of inconsistent global standards for securing and protecting privacy in electronic health records (EHRs). It proposes the Global Medical Data Security and Privacy Preserving Standard Identification (GDSPS) framework, which integrates six major privacy/security standards to derive twenty key concepts, clusters them into five implementation factors via K-means, and then prioritizes these factors using the Ordinal Priority Approach (OPA) based on ease, efficacy, and cost. Key contributions include (i) a novel global standardization framework (GDSPS), (ii) a five-factor taxonomy (Technical Rights, Admin Rights, Security Measures, Data Protection, Operational Practices), and (iii) a prescriptive prioritization mechanism to guide resource allocation for EHR privacy/security enhancements. The framework supports descriptive and prescriptive guidance for policymakers and healthcare professionals, enabling more coherent international interoperability and targeted security investments while highlighting areas for future user-centric evaluation and expansion to evolving data-management needs.

Abstract

Electronic Health Records (EHR) are crucial for the success of digital healthcare, with a focus on putting consumers at the center of this transformation. However, the digitalization of healthcare records brings along security and privacy risks for personal data. The major concern is that different countries have varying standards for the security and privacy of medical data. This paper proposed a novel and comprehensive framework to standardize these rules globally, bringing them together on a common platform. To support this proposal, the study reviews existing literature to understand the research interest in this issue. It also examines six key laws and standards related to security and privacy, identifying twenty concepts. The proposed framework utilized K-means clustering to categorize these concepts and identify five key factors. Finally, an Ordinal Priority Approach is applied to determine the preferred implementation of these factors in the context of EHRs. The proposed study provides a descriptive then prescriptive framework for the implementation of privacy and security in the context of electronic health records. Therefore, the findings of the proposed framework are useful for professionals and policymakers in improving the security and privacy associated with EHRs.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: State of Health Data Privacy and Security in the USA.
• Figure 2: Workflow for two-level approach framework.
• Figure 3: Key security standards and selected concepts.
• Figure 4: Framework of proposed GDSPS.
• Figure 5: Importance of Criteria of evaluation of Factors.