The CATS de-identification platform

CATS is a service-oriented platform for de-identification of data. CATS support anonymisation of different types of data (CSV, XML, HL7, DICOM,...) in a generic and extendable way. It can be integrated into automated data-flows or be used for manual de-identification.

Originally a standalone tool for manual de-identification of datasets, CATS has evolved into a versatile service platform for de-identification and pseudonymisation which can be easily integrated into high volume data workflows. With CATS, data de-identification can be added to your data flows in just a few simple steps:

• STEP1: Through a privacy risk assessment it is determined how the data must be transformed (e.g. through perturbation, suppression, aggregation, etc.) in order to be sufficiently de-identified. Need help with the risk assessment? We have that covered!
• STEP2: These transformations are specified in a CATS “privacy profile” towards a generic data model.
• STEP3: The input data is mapped onto a generic data model.
• DONE! 

The two-stage approach (data mapping and the use of privacy profiles) allows for uniform processing (i.e. with the same privacy profile) of data in different formats. It is not only more convenient for setting up a project; it also provides a higher assurance level with respect to compliance. A wide range of privacy enhancing operations can be configured in the profiles, for example:

• Remove all patient names
• Calculate a pseudo-ID based on a patient-ID
• Make all patient visit-dates relative to the patient date of birth and randomise that date
• Process all free text to remove identifying information
• Etc.

Out of the box, the CATS platform supports processing data in the following formats: CSV (“Comma Separated Values”), XML, HL7, DICOM and is capable of performing operations on relational databases directly through SQL. Due to the modular design, end-users can add modules that support their own proprietary data formats.