Friday, May 1, 2015
Commonwealth Fund's Blumenthal Explores Health Data Security in WSJ Editorial
With the rapid spread of electronic health records, much critical health data is already digitized. Pretty soon, all that information will be stored in the cloud in personal health records that are accessible 24/7. Computerized algorithms will empower individuals to make rapid, sound decisions about their own health and health care. Tele-medicine will enable round-the-clock consults with health professionals standing by to take your call.
But this future won’t materialize unless some problems are solved along the way. The most important is assuring the privacy and security of all the valuable, but sensitive, health-care data that we can now collect, store and process. If people can’t trust the privacy and security of cloud-based health records, they won’t feel comfortable using them. But health-care information systems are currently no more secure than those of retailers, banks or any other organizations connected to the Internet. Current privacy and security regulations in the health-care field were conceived and implemented before the web existed, and don’t offer adequate protections for the 21st century....