Data Security and Privacy Assurance Considerations in Cloud Computing for Health Insurance Providers

Introduction

Cloud computing aims to incorporate the evolutionary development of many existing computing approaches and technologies such as distributed services, application, information and infrastructure consisting of a pool of computers, network, information, and storage resources (Meli & Grance, 2011; Gavrilov & Trajkovik, 2012; Takabi & Joshi, 2012). Although cloud computing is still evolving, it has shown potential to enhance collaboration, agility, scale, and availability, although its definitions, issues, underlying technologies, risks, and values need to be carefully considered (Gavrilov & Trajkovik, 2012). According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), cloud computing is defined as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” Cloud computing has five essential characteristics: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured services. It is also made up of three service models: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Cloud computing can further be broken down into four deployment models, namely private, public, community, and hybrid cloud (Meli & Grance, 2011).

For healthcare, cloud computing provides opportunities such as reduced IT service costs, optimizing resources, and improving clinical and quality of service for patients (Ahuja, Mani, & Zambrano, 2012). The Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC, 2017) described the benefits of cloud computing in healthcare from different perspectives including economic, operational, and functional advantages, consisting of reduced costs, scalability, ability to adjust to demand rapidly, a potential for broad inter-operability, and integration. Kuo (2011) also discussed opportunities for cloud computing with management, legal, technology, and security considerations. Opportunities include increase in scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of infrastructure. Despite the benefits of cloud computing, there are security and privacy issues that should be considered when adopting cloud computing, particularly when dealing with healthcare data. Protecting healthcare data is crucial because it involves the collection, storage, and use of personally identifiable health information, according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2009). Insurance providers pay part or all of the expenses when one visits a healthcare professional, spends time in a hospital, or purchases covered health care services or products (CLHIA). In order for a health insurance company to process medical claims, personally identifiable information is obtained from its customers. Ensuring the protection of personal data is crucial; because if exposed, it can cause financial loss and damages to the healthcare provider’s reputation, as well as aggravation to the patients. Common related fraud schemes may range from prescription fraud to identity theft, and impersonation of the victim for healthcare insurance benefits, as healthcare information also contains government-issued ID numbers (Mennes, 2016).