Authors:
C. Pereira
1
;
C. Oliveira
1
;
C. Vilaça
1
and
A. Ferreira
2
Affiliations:
1
Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto and Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, Portugal
;
2
Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto and University of Porto, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Health legislation, Computer security, Health insurance portability and accountability act, Recommendation No R (97)5, Privacy.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Biomedical Engineering
;
Confidentiality and Data Security
;
Electronic Health Records and Standards
;
Health Information Systems
Abstract:
The use of computer applications in health services is essential but difficult to make it right. The challenge is to balance two values: the free access to patient sensitive and personal information and the protection of the privacy and confidentiality of the patient. The European Union and the United States tried to solve this challenge by implementing legislation on the protection of clinical data. The European legislation is comprehensive and regulated by Supervisors and each Member State creates its own legislation in accordance with the Recommendations. On the other hand, the American legislation is specific, the organizations have a self-regulatory system and each state creates the State Law which is governed by Federal Law. The aim of this paper is to compare the European legislation - “Recommendation No R (97)5”with the American legislation – “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” at the level of information security in healthcare, regarding new security techno
logies and mechanisms applied in the area of safety monitoring of clinical data. Both legislations are neutral concerning the selection of technology that the State wants to use. These laws must be adaptive to the changing technology, to ensure patients’ privacy under any circumstance.
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