The Problem
Research Collaboration Expands PHI Exposure
Every research partnership, registry submission, grant-funded project, and data-sharing agreement creates another copy of sensitive patient data outside your institution's control. Traditional security models cannot enforce access policies once data has been shared.
Data Use Agreements Cannot Follow the Data
IRB approvals and data use agreements define how a dataset may be used. Once it reaches a partner institution, nothing in the data itself enforces those terms.
De-Identification Has Limits
De-identified datasets can become re-identifiable when combined with clinical, demographic, genomic, or institutional datasets from collaborating organizations.
Research Happens Outside Institutional Boundaries
Researchers routinely work across institutions, devices, networks, and cloud environments. Traditional perimeter security was never designed for modern research collaboration.
Policies in Action
Examples of What You Can Enforce
Research and clinical data carry different access requirements across studies, care teams, and external collaborators. Seald Healthcare turns those requirements into record-level decryption policy, so each study, service, or collaborator receives only the access it is authorized to have. Start inside the institution, then extend the same controls across partner organizations and research workflows.
Learn More About Policy StudioResearchers can decrypt only the fields authorized for their study: tumor stage, treatment response, lab values, and imaging results. They must be on campus or within a five-mile radius, on the university IP range, with MFA verified, from a managed device.
Dr. Elena Marsh ([email protected]) can decrypt the oncology cohort only, weekdays 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Eastern, with MFA verified, until the protocol end date.
Residents can decrypt records only for patients on their assigned service, during their scheduled rotation.
De-identified datasets decrypt for the biostatistics role. Patient identifiers decrypt only for separately authorized roles.
Cascade Research Institute can decrypt only the approved study records, from its authorized environment on the registered IP range, weekdays 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Eastern, with MFA verified, for the duration of the study. Access expires on the protocol end date.
Halden Genomics Core can decrypt only the de-identified genomic variants authorized for the study. Direct identifiers do not decrypt in its environment.
Brightpath Data Coordinating Center reviewers are limited to five record decryptions per 30 minutes, and forwarded records do not decrypt for unauthorized recipients.
Kestrel Registry's access is revoked automatically when the collaboration ends.
HIPAA Safe Harbor
A Breach of Properly Encrypted PHI Is Not a Reportable Breach Per HHS
If protected health information is lost, stolen, or accessed by an unauthorized party, properly encrypted data remains unreadable and unusable. Under HHS guidance, properly encrypted PHI is not considered unsecured PHI when the decryption key or process has not also been compromised, and therefore does not trigger HIPAA breach-notification requirements. That means a security incident does not automatically become a reportable breach. The result can be reduced breach liability, lower cyber insurance costs, and a dramatically different outcome for your organization.
“Protected health information (PHI) is rendered unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals if one or more of the following applies: electronic PHI has been encrypted as specified in the HIPAA Security Rule… such encryption renders the breach notification provisions of the HITECH Act inapplicable.”
No Public Disclosure
No 60-day notification clock, no HHS portal listing, no press release.
Reduced OCR Exposure
Demonstrated safeguards reduce regulatory and enforcement exposure.
Lower Insurance Premiums
Seald Healthcare’s demonstrable controls may qualify for carrier premium credits.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Seald Healthcare do?
Seald Healthcare protects patient data itself, not just the systems around it. Each record is encrypted individually, with decryption authority kept separate from the data. Records stay encrypted wherever they are stored, accessed, or shared and decrypt only during authorized use under policy for an approved person, device, application, or AI agent.
Can access be revoked after patient data has already been shared?
Yes. Because decryption remains policy-governed, your organization can revoke authorization in real time even after encrypted patient data has been distributed or stored outside your environment. Possession of the ciphertext alone does not provide authority to decrypt it.
What happens if a vendor or cloud environment is breached?
Seald Healthcare is designed so that compromising the environment storing the data does not, by itself, provide the authority required to decrypt the protected records. Patient data remains encrypted, and decryption still requires an authorized request that satisfies the active policy.
Does Seald Healthcare have access to our patient data?
No. Seald Healthcare is zero-knowledge by design. We manage the cryptographic infrastructure and policy enforcement required to protect the data, but we cannot independently decrypt customer PHI.