AFFIRMATIVE — MEDICAL — SOLVENCY 232

TECHNOLOGY & ENCRYPTION CAN PROTECT MEDICAL PRIVACY

TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP TO PROTECT PRIVACY OF MEDICAL RECORDS

John Morrissey Modern Healthcare, February 7, 2000, Pg. 3 TITLE: ...while medical records security issue grows in influence // acs-EE2001

In fact, technology can do a better job of keeping sensitive records away from prying eyes, she says. With passwords, access controls and the ability to track who has seen what, well-planned information systems can curtail the document-passing that affords fleeting opportunities for unauthorized peeping. "The electronic age is allowing information to be passed throughout an organization without anyone ever seeing a piece of paper," Holmes says.

ENCRYPTION OF MEDICAL RECORDS IS THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION

Ann Cavoukian, Commissioner of the Information and privacy Commission of Ontario, "The Promise of Privacy- Enhancing Technologies," VISIONS OF PRIVACY: Policy Choices for the Digital Age, 1999, EE2001 -JGM, p. 120

The creation of additional access requirements, audit trails, and the use of pseudonyms or anonymous identifiers will all reduce the incidence of unauthorized access to health data. But even that may not be enough. Encryption is the ultimate defence against both casual insiders, who will not be in possession of the keys, and outsiders, who will try to decipher them. In addition, the creation of anonymous databases of sensitive information, linked only by encryption means to the personal identifiers associated with them, removes the need to routinely attach nominal identifiers to the actual records, thus addressing both privacy and security-related issues.