Panel Discussion — Conforming Technology to Policy: The Problems of Electronic Health Records

Abstract

Privacy regulation often follows from the needs of particular sectors. This creates the risk of a patchwork of regulation for di.erent sectors of activity, and of con.ict and overlap amongst regulatory regimes. Where these risks are managed, however, citizens bene.t from rules tailored to identi.ed needs and sensitivities, and recipients of personal data bene.t from more speci.c behavioral guides. The health care sector is perhaps the most active sector in attracting rules designed to enhance personal privacy. Several provinces in Canada have health care data speci.c legislation, and Ontario has a very sophisticated bill which is soon to become law. However, the creation and enforcement of such rules is fraught with di.culties and is highly systems dependent.