Equitable Healthcare via Ethical and Provable De-identification
Dr. Evgenios Kornaropoulos
KEY INTERESTS
Computer security; Applied cryptography; Analysis and design of efficient encrypted systems and algorithms; Artificial intelligence and machine learning
APPOINTMENTS/AFFILIATIONS
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, George Mason University
ACADEMIC DEGREES
BS, Computer Science, University of Crete
MS, Computer Science, University of Crete
MS, Computer Science, Brown University
PhD, Computer Science, Brown University
EQUITABLE HEALTHCARE VIA ETHICAL AND PROVABLE DE-IDENTIFICATION
This project revisit the road-map detailed in the Privacy Rule guidance released by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) as "Guidance Regarding Methods for De-identification of Protected Health Information", under the rigorous mathematical framework of cryptography. George Mason University's Mason and Partners (MAP) clinics are a network of academic nurse-managed health clinics that serve uninsured and refugee populations. An important aspect of the MAP clinics' intake and registration process is that patients are not required to provide photo identification in order to receive free services. As a result, of this targeted health care delivery and equity work, the MAP clinics work with a patient population not represented in a typical hospital/insurance/federal dataset, despit this data having the potential to be the key to policy decisions toward more equitable healthcare systems at both local and federal levels. This work evaluates the current systems in place to protect patient privacy and proposes mitigation strategies that will allow key stakeholders to leverage this critical data while protecting the vulnerable populations it represents.