CASE SPECIFIC 60

MEDICAL RECORDS — COUNTERPLAN WILL END UP PROTECTING PRIVACY WITHOUT BEING A PRIVACY POLICY

PENALTIES WILL PROTECT MEDICAL RECORD CONFIDENTIALITY IN REGIONAL DATA CODIFICATION CENTERS

Appropriate penalties will be set for anyone who abuses the confidentiality of these centers by using the identifying data contained in these computers for unauthorized purposes.

DATA CODIFICATION CENTERS WILL NOT CIRCULATE PERSONAL RECORDS, JUST STATISTICAL DATA

Most importantly, the codification centers will provide correlations and other statistical links among bodies of data but no personal records. Thus if one body of data contains information, say, about the medical conditions of a given population and the other about their compliance with physicians' instructions, the center will enable researchers to determine the correlations between the these two attributes, without releasing information that will allow re-identification of individuals involved.

REGIONAL DATA CODIFICATION CENTERS CAN MAKE SURE THAT MEDICAL DATA DOES NOT LEAK

The staff of these codification centers will commit to abiding by special precautions to prevent leakage of personal identifying information. For instance, they would ensure that data not be issued if the numbers are small, because this could lead to identification of the persons involved.

MEDICAL DATA DEPOSITORIES COULD PROTCT PRIVACY AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

Amitai Etzioni USA TODAY January 25, 2000, SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 15A TITLE: Our medical records are about to get more privacy // acs-EE2001

Instead, it would make sense to create a small number of medical data "Fort Knoxes" in which personal identifiers are held and in which bonded personnel would combine new data with old ones. Medical research is too important for all of us to be severely hobbled in order to strengthen medical privacy.