Thoughts on Privacy in Health Care in the Wake of Facebook Scrutiny

A lot of health IT experts are taking a fresh look at the field’s (abysmal) record in protecting patient data, following the shocking Cambridge Analytica revelations that cast a new and disturbing light on privacy practices in the computer field. Both Facebook and others in the computer field who would love to emulate its financial success are trying to look at general lessons that go beyond the oddities of the Cambridge Analytica mess. (Among other things, the mess involved a loose Facebook sharing policy that was tightened up a couple years ago, and a purported “academic researcher” who apparently violated Facebook’s terms of service.) I will devote this article to four lessons from the Facebook scandal that apply especially to health care data–or more correctly, four ways in which Cambridge Analytica reinforces principles that privacy advocates have known for years. Everybody recognizes that the risks modern data sharing practices pose to public life are hard, even intractable, and I will have to content myself with helping to define the issues, not present solutions. The lessons are: There is no such thing as health data. Consent is a meaningless concept. The risks of disclosure go beyond individuals to affect the whole population. Discrimination doesn’t have to be explicit or conscious. The article will now lay out each concept, how the Facebook events reinforce it, and what it means for health care. There is no such thing as...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Healthcare AI Healthcare Analytics Cambridge Analytica Data Analytics Facebook Healthcare Facebook Privacy Health Data Privacy Healthcare Privacy Source Type: blogs