Enhancing privacy on Mobile Health: An integrated privacy module

Abstract

The evolution of mobile communication in the health sector has improved patients' quality of care. Nowadays, doctors can make diagnosis even though the patient is miles away using mobile technologies such as smart phones or tablet PCs. Nevertheless, the exchange of medical information through mobile devices brings on serious threats to patients' privacy. We believe that privacy must be considered during the development of any mobile healthcare system. In this paper we discuss the efficiency of current privacy and security protection mechanisms used in current mobile systems. The nature and the diversity of medical information shared between different entities (physicians, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies...) increases privacy and security risks. Thus, we introduce a new conceptual module to preserve privacy in mobile healthcare. By integrating this module into current mobile healthcare systems architecture, we obtain a privacy-preserving system enabling patients to monitor and manage the disclosure of their sensitive health information during a mobile transaction.