Published: 24-04-2024 11:44 | Updated: 07-10-2024 21:48

Cloud based personal health record with AI - is it safe?

a man with books in front of him
Dr Niklas Lidströmer Photo: Nature Medicine (Springer Nature) CC BY 4.0.

Cloud-based personal health records are on the rise globally. This article series introduces the concept of a GPOC of PHRs, consisting of five parts, with the current article focusing on systematic review and meta-analysis. It scrutinizes technical, computer scientific, and security-based prerequisites, analyzing twelve factors including data security, efficiency, cost, integrity, cryptography, and access.

World map with faces
Featured image for the GPOC Series with a world map of faces Photo: Collage by Dr Niklas Lidströmer, CCBY4.0

The study reveals a lack of prior publication on patient co-ownership of health data or PHRs, and an absence of a global standard in this area. Moreover, it underscores the importance of patient co-ownership of health data. It presents a patient centric global PHR with co-ownership, facilitating patient insight, access, and active participation in healthcare. Additionally, the series suggests that patient co-ownership of health data could represent a new human rights entity. Technical and cryptological conditions are thoroughly examined, with a meta-analysis that highlights the potential of a globally distributed, homomorphically encrypted, and blockchain-protected PHR where patients are co-owners. 

Since 2010, Dr Niklas Lidströmer has been driving the vision of a cloud-based, blockchain-protected, encrypted, patient co-owned personal health record (PHR) platform. Initially known as GlobeDoc. For the past five years it has been known as the Global Patient co-Owned Cloud (GPOC). This initiative holds significant promise for the development and dissemination of artificial intelligence in medical science and healthcare. Dr Lidströmer is in the Herlenius Research group at CMM, Karolinska Institutet.

The recently published article investigates the technical and security conditions for a GPOC, emphasizing its patient co-ownership, cloud-based nature, encryption, and blockchain protection.

Conducted at the Karolinska University Library, the study involved a comprehensive review of 16,000 articles, followed by a meta-analysis—the first of its kind in this domain. Comparisons were made on encryption, cost (gas), performance, effectiveness, blockchain, data transfer, and other vital parameters impacting network function, stability, and security.

The GPOC series comprises four additional forthcoming articles. It begins with a global GPOC Survey among all the world´s health ministries and major organizations, followed by a review of relevant ethics, policies, and regulations. Subsequently a Delphi Summit convened delegates worldwide to discuss the GPOC concept. Finally, a technical GPOC Sandbox is presented, built upon insights from the entire series and shared as open source for global experimentation, development, and realization of GPOC.