Governments have been urged by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) to pass laws that would provide tighter protection for health data, especially from the tech industry and insurance.
A “connected healthcare system” would improve patient outcomes, according to the AMA’s data governance policy statement [pdf], but it must be “based on the principles of “data safety, data quality, data privacy, and data portability.”
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) models of the EU and UK should serve as the foundation for protection and data ownership.
The government was urged in the position statement to safeguard Australians’ health information by passing legislation to safeguard patients’ ownership of their health data in light of the development of international technology corporations into Australia.
The American Medical Association (AMA) stated that it “considers the use of patient health data to improve the profitability of privately owned businesses that are custodians of patient data [to be] unethical use of data and is strongly opposed to this.”
According to the AMA, a patient’s health is the sole valid justification for disclosing and sharing patient data.
“As data custodians, they must be prohibited from sharing or using these data outside of what is permitted by national law, “AMA reported.
Additionally, the propensity of software corporations to grant themselves extensive rights in contract clauses needs to be curbed.
“Clinical software companies must not be permitted to include restrictions in contracts with medical practises that restrict doctors’ access to patient data or establish shadow ownership of data, “AMA reported.
Such conduct must be regarded as criminal because it is unethical.