SafeDeID
Care Process & Redesign
Technology
National Healthcare Innovation and Productivity Medals
National University Health System
2 February 2026
The aim is to develop an elegant and comprehensive solution to address the weaknesses in handling patient identifiers. The innovation streamlines processes and enhances productivity in data-intensive environments where privacy and data security are.
Year Submitted: 2025
Published Date: 02 February 2026
Tags: Care Process ＆ Redesign, Productivity, Time Saving, Quality Improvement, Workflow Redesign, Technology, Data Management, Digital Health, Cyber Security, Data Security, Automation, Digitisation
About this Content
Aims
The aim is to develop an elegant and comprehensive solution to address the weaknesses in handling patient identifiers, thereby reducing time spent on data cleaning and allowing more time for higher value-adding data analysis.
Background
Dealing with high volumes of patient identifiers is a core component of a data analyst's daily work in RHSO, NUHS. Data is typically unsanitized, requiring effort to remove identifiers after extraction. Prior measures are tedious and manual, posing a risk of breaching PDPA guidelines, especially when analyzed data is shared with others.
Methods
The procedure involves storing files to be masked alongside the deidentification key and the R script. Files can be individual or organized within folders. The working directory in the R script is adjusted accordingly. Modifications are made to accommodate varying column names for Patient NRIC. NRIC validation ensures they are 9 characters in length. NRICs are deidentified using the deidentification key, and masked NRICs are displayed as a new column. Actual NRICs are removed before saving the files, and the output file is labeled as masked.
Results
The foreseeable challenge is the feasibility of the solution for databases not currently known to the project team. There may also be exceptions and errors that the solution cannot currently circumvent, requiring further refinement.
Conclusion
The innovation streamlines processes and enhances productivity in data-intensive environments where privacy and data security are crucial. It reduces the margin of error and boosts efficiency in masking patient identifiers. Its scalability allows for rapid implementation with minimal iterations to adapt to varying column names across databases. The automation accelerates the deidentification process and contributes to workforce transformation by facilitating seamless collaboration and information sharing.
Lessons Learnt
Refer to the Attachment.
Keywords
Deidentification, Data Security, Automation, Privacy, Productivity
Innovators' Details
Innovators' Details
Healthcare Cluster(s) | National University Health System |
Organization(s) Involved | National University Health System (NUHS) |
Platform(s) | National Healthcare Innovation and Productivity Medals |
Healthcare Professional Group(s) | Healthcare Administration |
Applicable Specialty or Discipline | Healthcare Administrators, InfoTech |
Project Lead(s) | Ng Wei Lin |
Project Member(s) | Lukas Loh |
Connect with this contributor!
Ng Wei Lin - weilin_ng@nuhs.edu.sg
Lukas Loh - lukas_loh@nuhs.edu.sg