Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Thursday, July 13, 2006

NEHTA's Approach to Privacy V 1.0

On July 4, 2006 NEHTA released a document entitled NEHTA's Approach to Privacy V 1.0. This report can be found at the following URL:
http://www.nehta.gov.au/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,141/Itemid,139/

In general the document provides a useful, if rather high level, introduction to the privacy issues faced by all those who plan to implement e-health in the real world. We are also told that NEHTA plans to develop Privacy Blueprints (whatever actually they are) for the Provider and Individual Identifier initiatives as well as a later one for the Shared EHR.

In response to the paper I feel the need to make one key criticism and offer a few observations on the traps and pitfalls that lie in wait.

The criticism is that talk of privacy neutrality is naïve. It is critically necessary to distinguish between conceptual privacy neutrality and practical (or privacy as it is actually implemented) neutrality. Preserving the privacy of a patient’s written record is a very different thing from preserving the privacy of a patient’s record when stored, typically with hundreds of others, in a computer system. The threats from leakage and exposure are different as are the methods of auditing access and use. These differences must be clearly recognised and effectively addressed. An example is the ease with which 10,000 records can be stolen on a USB key compared with the same ‘truck-requiring’ effort with paper records.

NEHTA rightly recognises any perceived failures to protect ‘private information’ will have severe consequences for e-health adoption and use.

The crunch will come for NEHTA in ensuring that the Common Principles for the Collection and Handling of Health Information are implemented as robustly and effectively as the public expects.

The number of recent incidents where tens of thousands or patient records have been exposed by a number of healthcare organisations in the US (including the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs), and the public concerns regarding identity theft that have emerged, shows the basis of public concern has moved beyond having their secrets kept to anxiety regarding personal financial loss.

I also offer the following observations based on consultations I have had over the years with consumer and patient advocate bodies.

1. Persecution and discrimination involving the improper use of a range of private health information is not an infrequent experience among those with stigmatizing diseases (AIDS, Hep C, Mental Illness etc), particularly in the fields of employment and in the individuals access to various services. Thus the need for high levels of confidence and certainty against unauthorized disclosure is easily understood, as is the quite reasonable use of multiple identities to avoid exposure – computer systems must allow for this – or risk rejection by users.

2. The right to not know some things (e.g. possible genetic “doom”) is valued and must be respected.

3. People vary widely in the value they place on being able to keep some information secret (e.g. that they have had an abortion or an STD) and systems have to be sensitive to this variation to succeed.

4. Careful consultation with those on the outer (e.g. the mentally ill, the poor and the homeless) is vital to ensure a privacy underclass with little or no access to services is created.

5. Trust is not a commodity that is as widely available as it used to be – especially of government – and communication of what is happening in the area of Health Information Privacy is vital. Also there needs to be a high level of conservatism and a measured pace of change for success in implementation.

6. Most in the community support secondary use of information for research as long as they are aware the use is happening. This needs to be fostered by openness by the information holders about what research is being done and what the benefits may be.

The privacy issue is a serious ‘hot potato’. Every effort needs to be made to get it right in order for e-health to succeed. We can only hope NEHTA will adopt a sensitive, careful and consultative approach when it comes to implementation.

David.

1 comment:

Dr Ian Colclough said...

NEHTA is to be commended on the Approach to Privacy Version 1.0 document.

The document reflects a carefully considered approach to addressing the multitude of complex issues related to e-health privacy and consent.

Developing a strategy to address the privacy and consent issues related to the exchange and sharing of technology-based personal and clinical information, between multiple healthcare providers, is an extremely difficult and politically very sensitive exercise.

NEHTA has recognised that the breadth and depth of the issues involved are far-reaching, and in so doing has wisely adopted a cautious approach to addressing the issues by first developing a high level outline of its approach. As NEHTA states “this document sketches a consistent approach to privacy to apply across the whole of NEHTA’s work program.” This makes good sense. As does the “development of Privacy Tenets designed to guide future work and ensure a coherent approach within NEHTA”.

The health and ICT industries will welcome the development of clear and precise privacy guidelines under which the health-ICT sector can operate. The release of the HPI, IPI and Shared EHR Privacy Blueprints should prove to be a major step forward for the national e-health Agenda.

The major obstacles NEHTA will encounter lie deep within the bureaucracies of each of the jurisdictions it represents. As NEHTA’s shareholders, the jurisdictions will be severely tested as they confront the reality of ensuring their respective bureaucracies adopt the standardised set of privacy guidelines which NEHTA has been charted to develop.

Dr Ian Colclough
Integrated Marketing & e-Health Strategies
Balwyn North VIC 3104
(m) 0412 059 392
(e) ihsipl@smartchat.net.au