Industry calls for shift in balance in legal debates over eHealth

eHealth involves the sharing of electronic patient data between medical professionals. But it is exactly this sharing of data that is provoking certain questions, be it in the context of data protection or liability. Industry representatives are therefore calling for a shift in the emphasis in discussions about these issues – and for innovative reimbursement models.

Published: 05/09/2008

PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA – (HealthTech Wire) - “The basic concept of eHealth is that if you share data and create appropriate access to these data, healthcare will be delivered more efficiently,” said Petra Wilson of the Continua Health Alliance, an international standards organisation set up by the IT industry. Because of this, she argued, discussions centring on data protection should not so much focus on privacy issues but rather on what she called “information governance”.

Information governance means respecting the need for privacy when it comes to personal medical data. But it also involves making proper arrangements for accessing the data, arrangements that do not hamper the necessary medical care, for instance. According to Wilson, sensible solutions will have to involve the patients, to offer appropriate access control, they require standardised security functions and they have to be comprehensible. “We need proper security mechanisms, but we should not be too tight on security,” said Wilson. As an example of what can happen if eHealth gets security issues wrong, Wilson cited the United Kingdom: “The security measures were far too tight. As a consequence, doctors copied the data onto CD, and then the CD disappeared.”

In Portoroz, Wilson also advocated new models of shared responsibility. In the future, she said, there will be traditional as well as a number of new care providers in a wide range of medical settings. “If something goes wrong with the treatment, we have to make sure that our liability systems share the responsibility appropriately between the parties involved. People need to be confident that if something goes wrong, there is no doubt as to who is liable.”

Eric Maurincomme, Chair of the Healthcare IT Committee of the European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR), referred to the importance of proper reimbursement models: “We need to have financial incentives, for example annual lump sum payments or extra payments for the use of additional services.” Industry, on the other hand, will have to develop innovative business models such as subscription schemes or pay-per-use systems. “This kind of reimbursement model will help to reduce initial investments and thus increase acceptance,” said Maurincomme. (PP)

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