07/09/2008
Medical privacy : the next frontier
and the soldiers since 2006 in this battle in the US for the moment (but of which the EU is also dreaming as our ehealth gurus) are also the world privacy forum and not without success
their most important documents are
extension of ehealth to the pharma sector and this is closely linked to their viewpoints on genetic privacy (is less futuristic than it looks)
and also about
the personal health systems (Google, Microsoft) Personal Health Records: Why Many PHRs Threaten Privacy (PDF, 16 pages)
and this is made clear by their recommendations which make it directly clear that the ordinary citizen will not have the knowledge, time or resources to fully understand what the consequences are of agreeing to make a personal health file
more info on their special page
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07/07/2008
Something Ehealth could be incorporating ?
After the disclosure of information breaches, maybe medical errors
"LOS ANGELES—California hospitals reported that during a 10-month period ending in May, doctors performed the wrong surgical procedure, operated on the wrong body part or on the wrong patient 41 times, records show.During the same period, hospitals reported that foreign objects were left in surgical patients 145 times.
These types of errors, officially called "adverse events," are among the 1,002 cases of serious medical harm to patients disclosed by hospitals statewide, according to figures compiled by the California Department of Public Health. Under a new state law, hospitals must report to health officials all substantial injuries to their patients.
There are 28 types of dangerous mistakes that must be reported to state regulators, including medication errors and suicide attempts.
Beth Capell, a lobbyist for consumer advocacy group Health Access California, called the number of instances of these preventable events "a wake-up call to everyone about the safety of California hospitals."
But Dr. Angela Scioscia, senior medical director of the UC San Diego Medical Center, said hospitals "are becoming safer and safer all the time."
The public reporting requirement, Scioscia said, "is a great opportunity to make rapid improvements" because facilities can learn from one another's mistakes.
The health department has levied $25,000 fines against 10 hospitals that reported adverse events so far." source
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You need norms and standards for EHEALTH ? HERE ARE SOME
They want to put ehealth in motion in Belgium but they have no idea (or don't want to say so) how they will put the standards and norms in order and which ones they are going to use. They will do that later and maybe in two years time we will have something, but before that we have to pay ocnsultants thousands of Euro's to find out how warm water becomes warm.
Google and Microsoft that will be the direct competitors for ehealth (and who are both setting up their ehealth tents in Mons, not for from Brussels) have already agreed upon a framework and standards. The European commission is also throwing a lot of money at this new idea.
Well read this and take what is applicable in Belgium and you already have some idea to start with. Which is a lot better than to have non-public documents and thoughts that aren't spoken out.
There is one advantage of this framework. It can become international and be used for every patient independent if his medical information (or part of it ) is in the hands of private or public players.
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