Together with the development of medical technologies, new methods of treatment, the creation of the latest services in the field of health care, and the transition of medicine (at least its administrative part) online, the issue of privacy is becoming increasingly relevant.
In today's era of computerized user records, maintaining patient privacy may not always be as simple as it seems. Some critics believe that the concept of complete data privacy is simply impossible.
What shall I do? How to protect the patient from unauthorized dissemination of information about his health? How to protect your medical business from fines and conflicts with patients? How to legally insure the online service of medical services?
Today will be about exactly that.
A patient discloses personal information to a healthcare provider when making an appointment, being examined by medical personnel, receiving treatment, and searching for an appropriate clinic. Most of this information relates to the patient's health, but other information may be demographic or financial information, such as the patient's address, insurance, etc.
Medical information may include vital signs (blood pressure, weight, etc.), diagnostic laboratory test results, and notes written by a doctor or nurse. The patient most likely believes that most of this data is private and expects that the medical staff (as well as the online service) will keep such private information to be shared only with those entities with which the patient has consented, such as a medical insurance company and other medical institutions. A patient may want to keep private even the information that he or she is seeing a particular doctor or seeking a particular service.
It is generally accepted that there is a legal and moral requirement for the privacy of a patient's personal medical information. Moral controversies arise over whether such privacy is absolute or can be violated in some situations. If the requirement of privacy is not absolute, under what circumstances and with whom is it morally permissible to share such information?
For your medical online service (clinic, aggregator of medical services, portal for medical tourism, laboratory, etc.) to meet the requirements of laws on the protection of the personal data of patients, your online resource must have mandatory legal documents developed specifically for medical business.
Take for example Bookimed, an international platform for selecting clinics and organizing treatment.
Bookimed's "Terms of Use" document shows all the details that make it clear to the user how to work with this platform - what services the company provides, how to work in a personal account, what data the user must provide and in which case the provision of additional services, limitations of liability etc.
The Terms of Use document is a contract between a business and a user. When the patient reads this document, he must understand how he will receive the service at this resource.
The Privacy policy of Bookimed (another mandatory document for the site) explains to the user in simple and easy language the purpose for which his personal data is collected, how the user can give consent to the processing of his personal data, how the patient can control the processing of his personal data:
"We may use personal data and/or specific information about you for the following purposes, the presented list is not exhaustive:
Maybe no.
Answering this question, the owner of the service posts the following message on his website:
ATTENTION: The Company, as well as its employees, management, partners, and agents are not responsible directly or indirectly for any information provided by you through any communication outside of Bookimed and its Representatives (eg: coordinators) and/or for any material damages or harm caused to the health of the patient in case of such communication (for example: direct communication using a telephone conversation between you and the clinic/hospital, direct communication using "alternative methods of communication" (messengers, e-mail, etc. .) .) between you and the clinic/hospital, individual ("visavi") communication between you and the clinic/hospital, etc.)..."
Such a message warns the user about what the medical platform is directly responsible and where lies the limit of its responsibility.
Because there are many ways to store, access, and share such information in today's healthcare system, involving many people and institutions, patient privacy must be protected through established security policies. Security must consist of policies, procedures, and practices that provide necessary access while protecting data from challenges and threats that arise both inside and outside the organization.
If you have any questions about the legal documents on the site, please contact Avitar.
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Serhii Floreskul
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Violetta Loseva
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