Abstract
BackgroundThe linking of administrative data across agencies provides the capability to investigate many health and social issues with the potential to deliver significant public benefit. Despite its advantages, the use of cloud computing resources for linkage purposes is scarce, with the storage of identifiable information on cloud infrastructure assessed as high risk by data custodians.ObjectiveThis study aims to present a model for record linkage that utilizes cloud computing capabilities while assuring custodians that identifiable data sets remain secure and local.MethodsA new hybrid cloud model was developed, including privacy-preserving record linkage techniques and container-based batch processing. An evaluation of this model was conducted with a prototype implementation using large synthetic data sets representative of administrative health data.ResultsThe cloud model kept identifiers on premises and uses privacy-preserved identifiers to run all linkage computations on cloud infrastructure. Our prototype used a managed container cluster in Amazon Web Services to distribute the computation using existing linkage software. Although the cost of computation was relatively low, the use of existing software resulted in an overhead of processing of 35.7% (149/417 min execution time).ConclusionsThe result of our experimental evaluation shows the operational feasibility of such a model and the exciting opportunities for advancing the analysis of linkage outputs.
Highlights
BackgroundIn the last 10 years, innovative development of software apps, wearables, and the internet of things has changed the way we live
JMIR Med Inform 2020 | vol 8 | iss. 9 | e18920 | p. 8 cloud as computation and query occur on the hosted cloud infrastructure, but the interactive analysis is performed by the analysis client on premises
If the analysis client has access to one or more of the raw data sets used in the linkage, these data can be annotated onto query results, giving the clerk more informed decisions and an experience to which they are accustomed
Summary
In the last 10 years, innovative development of software apps, wearables, and the internet of things has changed the way we live. These technological advances have changed the way we deliver health services and provide a rapidly expanding information resource with the potential for data-driven breakthroughs in the understanding, treatment, and prevention of disease. Additional information from patient devices, including mobile phone and Google search histories [1], wearable devices [2], and mobile phone apps [3], provides new opportunities for monitoring, managing, and improving health outcomes in new and innovative ways. The use of cloud computing resources for linkage purposes is scarce, with the storage of identifiable information on cloud infrastructure assessed as high risk by data custodians
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