Access vs . Privacy : Managing Health Records
For IT healthcare departments looking for justification , especially where budgets are tight , having a strong IAM business case will highlight the benefits , including lower costs for IT resources and streamlined processes to improve profitability and efficiency , while protecting patient information . It will also provide a tool that continually measures the return on your investment , which will help justify future spending in the sector .
While prevention is still crucial , there are definitive steps that can be taken to increase resiliency and potentially reduce the negative impact of a breach when it does occur . Organisations that don ’ t shift to a user-centric view of security could be leaving not only their patients and customers exposed to incredible risk , but their business too , inadvertently providing fuel to the fire and joining the growing list of data breach headline-hitters . •
Balancing the Health Data Equation
By Keith Nurcombe
So here is a really interesting question - where should the line be , between helping your patient manage their health and conditions , and the patient ’ s right to privacy and control of their medical records and information ?
This is one of the really big questions that is now visiting desks and meeting rooms across digital healthcare - how do we use the technologies we want to and deploy and access the systems we need to without making the patient feel that their privacy is being invaded ?
For me , firstly we put sensible measures in place which protect the data and the patient , to ensure that the information is secure and well managed which gives everybody - the payer , the patient and the clinician - comfort that all is well . Then secondly , we engage the patient in sensible dialogue about what they want . This should be done in a managed way , based on the need to give the patient the best outcome rather than putting them in total control of the process and scaring them into sharing nothing .
I believe that we can do two things that really help this process :
1 . We can create patient owned healthcare plans , to which they upload information from whatever source they want , whether it is there Fitbit or their iPhone or just plain old how they are feeling . They then decide who to share this information with e . g . family friends and their clinicians . This allows them to feel in control and their clinician to get a level of engagement beyond the consulting room which they currently , in the main , don ’ t have .
2 . We then look at sensible ways of engaging patients with their , clinicianheld , patient record so that they understand what it does ; they understand what happens to it ; and , why it is being held by the clinician . The cradle to grave concept of one record looks good on paper but generally patients don ’ t have an issue with it when they understand why things are the way that they are .
Controversially , what we are then able to do is join these two together !
Imagine a world where patient-generated information gets to the clinician in a controlled way , which gives them the ability to make different more educated decisions on the care plan . This world be a world where the clinician then gives the patient challenges , targets and interacts with them in a way which helps them manage their wellness and their health in a completely new and supported way .
Goodness me , could you have created the utopia of a self-supported patient who actually interacts with the clinician because they can , rather than because they need to , and the clinician gets a well-educated and well-supported patient back .
There are already numerous examples of where this is happening now - Primary care providers in the UK are doing this today and it is changing the face of patient care for patients with long-term conditions and other complex co-morbidities .
This is the way forward in the long run a balanced system which works across both patients and clinicians , smoothly , and leads to patients who are supported and clinicians whose workload is more manageable .
Surely not ......................... Utopia really out there and being delivered !!!!
Keith Nurcombe has worked in healthcare for over twenty years spending the last few years working with businesses in the health and technology space , most recently building O2 Health where he was Managing Director until the end of 2012 , since then he has been providing consultancy services to businesses . •