Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Consent Mechanisms for Electronic Health Record Systems: A Simple Yet Unresolved Issue

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Medical Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Electronic health record (EHR) systems are now in widespread use in healthcare institutions worldwide. EHRs include sensitive health information and if they are integrated among healthcare providers, data can be accessible from many different sources. This leads to increased concern regarding invasion of privacy and confidentiality. Incorporating consent mechanisms into EHRs has the potential to enhance confidentiality. However there are both positive and negative effects from employing such mechanisms—they need to balance privacy, safety, consumer and public interest.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Eysenbach, G., Consumer health informatics. Br. Med. J. 320:1713–1716, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Gaithersburg, V., Electronic medical records and patient privacy. Health Care Manager March: 63–69, 2000.

  3. Rindfleisch, T. C., Confidentiality, information technology and healthcare. Commun. ACM 40(8):93–100, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Stein, L., The electronic medical record: promises and threats; web security: a matter of trust. Web J. 2(3): 1997, O’Reilly & Associates. 2(3) (available at http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/wjsum97/excerpt/).

  5. Win, T., A review of the security of electronic health records. Health Inf. Manage. J. 34(1):13–18, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  6. American Health Information Management Association. Standards for privacy of individually identifiable health information: a brief summary of the final rule. http://www.ahima.org/final_rule_summary.html (accessed March 2001), 2001.

  7. Rind, D. M., Kohane, I. S., Szolovits, P., Safran, C., Chueh, H., and Barnett, O., Maintaining the confidentiality of medical records shared over the internet and the world wide web. Annals Intern. Med. 127(2):138–141, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Dalla-Vorgia, P., Lascaratos, J., Skiadas, P., and Garanis-Papadatos, Is consent in medicine a concept only of modern times? J. Med. Ethics 27:59–61, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kluge, E.-H.W., Informed consent and the security of the electronic health record (EHR): some policy considerations. Int. J. Med. Inf. 73(3):229–234, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Waegemann, P. C., The Personal (Consumer) Health Records. Proceedings of e-Health Asia. http://www.medrecinst.com/conferences/asia/proceedings/10-00/phrecod.pdf (accessed May 2001), 2000.

  11. Connolly, C., Managing patient consent in a multidisciplinary team environment. Privacy Law Policy Rep. 11(1): 2004.

  12. Data Protection Act, http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980029.htm (accessed 23 May 2001), 1998.

  13. Australia’s Health 2002, The 8th Biennial Health Report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, (August 2002).

  14. HealthConnect Program Office Health Connect Project Overview (Health Connect Program Office September 2002) available at http://www.health.gov.au/healthconnect/pdf_docs/projovw.pdf (accessed December 2003).

  15. The National Electronic Health Records Taskforce. A Health Information Network for Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.health.gov.au/healthonline/ehr_rep.pdf (accessed October 2000), 2000.

  16. Aitken, J., and Gilhotra, H., HealthConnect: making consent and privacy a priority. Health Inf. Manage. J. 33(1):18–20, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  17. NSW Ministerial Advisory Committee on Privacy and Health Information. Panacea or Placebo? Linked Electronic Health Records and Improvements in Health Outcomes, 2000.

  18. Coiera, E., and Clarke, R., “e-Consent”: the design and implementation of consumer consent mechanisms in an electronic environment. J. Am. Med. Inf. Assoc. 11(2):129–140, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Dudeck, J., Informed consent for cancer registration. Lancet Oncol. 2:8–9, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Ingelfinger, J. R., and Drazen, J. M., Registry research and medical privacy. N. Engl. J. Med. 350(14):1452–1453, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Dalley, A., Fulcher, J., Bomba, D., Lynch, K., and Feltham, P., A technological model to define access to electronic clinical records. IEEE Trans. IT Biomed. 9(2):289–290, 2005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bomba, D., Fulcher, J., and Dalley, A., Construction of a Diabetes database and pilot evaluation of I-Key controlled of patient access. J. IT Healthcare 2(5):329–339, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Fulcher, J., The use of patient biometrics in accessing electronic health records. Intl. J. Healthcare Technol. Manage. 6(1):20–31, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Fulcher, J., Secure, remote, ubiquitous access of electronic health records. In Bangert, D., Doktor, R., and Valdez, M. (eds.), Human & Organizational Dynamics in e-Health: a Global Perspective, Radcliffe Medical Press, Oxford, pp. 83–97, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Gerber, P. Confidentiality and the courts. Med. J. Aust. 170:222–224, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Draft health privacy guidelines, Sydney, NSW, The consultation document issued by the office of the federal privacy commissioner. http://www.privacy.gov.au/rfc/index.html (accessed 21 May 2001), 2001.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Informatics Research Centre, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

    Khin T. Win & John A. Fulcher

Authors
  1. Khin T. Win
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John A. Fulcher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Khin T. Win.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Win, K.T., Fulcher, J.A. Consent Mechanisms for Electronic Health Record Systems: A Simple Yet Unresolved Issue. J Med Syst 31, 91–96 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-006-9030-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-006-9030-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation