Overview
Electronic Health Information & Privacy Conference 2009
View all information and presentations from the 2009 conference.
(http://www.ehealthinformation.ca/documents/EHIP2009.pdf)
More and more health information is being collected about us – and much of that data is collected, transmitted and stored electronically. This not only includes clinical information, but increasingly life style and genetic information as well.
There is growing demand to use this personal health information for research, administrative, and policy making purposes. At the same time, there have recently been at least 143 data breaches in Canada and US from medical establishments affecting more than 6.3 million records (see http://www.ehealthinformation.ca/dataloss). This has multiple negative consequences: from reducing the trust of patients in the public and private organizations that manage their personal information, to patients adopting privacy protective behaviors that may be detrimental to their well being. This trust, once lost, is difficult to regain.
The theme for the 2009 conference is the collection and use/disclosure of genetic information. We will address issues concerning the consent and security mechanisms around the construction of biobanks, including linking to other data sources. The focus will be on policy as well as technical issues and solutions. The conference will also cover a number of very relevant contemporary privacy issues: privacy considerations in the context of syndromic surveillance (for example, when trying to detect influenza like illnesses from various hospital and practice sources), and the expected significant changes to the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and HIPAA enforcement.
EHIP attracts approximately 125-150 people each year.
Organizing Committee:
Patricia Kosseim, Genome Canada
Brad Malin, Vanderbilt University
Khaled El Emam, University of Ottawa
