Managing medical information systems: can patients' privacy be protected or should we simply give up?
by Urs E. Gattiker, Rainer Fahs, Jaroslav Blaha
International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management (IJHTM), Vol. 2, No. 1/2/3/4, 2000

Abstract: Rapid cost escalation in healthcare has forced governments and associated businesses to reduce or at least contain rising healthcare costs. One viable approach has been to improve medical record keeping and its accessibility by parties involved in care taking and administration. Divergent stakeholder demands for information and its privacy may result in conflicts between parties (e.g., insurers versus patients). Encryption technology may help to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients' information. Unfortunately, governments demand to be given the possibility of intercepting and monitoring such electronic data transfer for administrative, legal and law enforcement purposes, should the need arise, is threatening the privacy of patients. This paper reviews these issues and highlights some of the problems and pitfalls various stakeholders are faced with considering medical information, privacy, encryption and law enforcement needs in an international context. Implications for managers and system specialists are described, and how these issues may affect direct marketing, customer databases and electronic commerce is discussed.

Online publication date: Mon, 30-Jun-2003

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