Scalable and Secure Sharing of Personal Health Records Using Attribute Based Encryption

Abstract

A personal health record (PHR) makes it easy to gather and manage medical information in one accessible and secure location. Carrying paper records is a big drawback, rarely the patients have with them when they need. Personal health record systems overcome this problem by making the personal health record accessible anytime via a Web-enabled device, such as computer. Literally, having a personal health record can be a lifesaver. In an emergency patient can quickly give emergency personal vital information about disease, medications and drug allergies. Now a day, personal health record (PHR) has become a patient-centric model of health information exchange. A PHR service allows patients to create, manage and control their personal health data from one place through the web, which has made the storing, retrieving and sharing of the medical information more efficient. Especially, each patient will have full control of their medical records and can share their health data with different users from different domains which include healthcare providers, family members and friends. Due to high cost of building and maintaining separate data centers, many PHR services are outsourced and provided by third party service providers for example, Microsoft Health Vault (UK). The Health Vault Program of Microsoft will allow users including individuals, health centers, hospitals etc. to gain access to the information on health related issues. The user interface will be simple, that would allow anyone to operate the program easily. But on the other hand, many people do not wish to share their private health records and other information universally through the Health Vault. As the sensitive Personal Health Information (PHI) is highly valuable, the third-party storage servers are the targets of various malicious behaviors which may result in exposure of the PHI.