From: FierceHealthIT
Privacy and Security Workgroup: Complex legal landscape around health privacy creates hurdles to data access for individuals, researchers
By Dan Bowman
While big data analytics can help to improve the health of individuals and communities, as well as support growth of a learning health system, its use presents several privacy and security challenges, according to a federal advisory group.
In a draft report presented at the Aug. 11 meeting of the Office of the National Coordinator’s Health IT Policy Committee, the Privacy and Security Workgroup (PSWG) outlines those challenges and recommends steps to address them. For instance, it notes that “rapid growth” in the amount of health information boosts the risks for violations to occur. What’s more, the workgroup says despite efforts to de-identify information in data sets, the threat of re-identification persists.
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