cover image: The case for de-identifying personal health information

Premium

20.500.12592/0385g4

The case for de-identifying personal health information

20 Jan 2011

De-identification refers to a set of methods that can be applied to data to ensure that the probability of assigning a correct identity to a record in the data is very low. [...] An agent is broadly defined as a person who acts on behalf of the custodian in respect of the personal information for the purposes of the custodian. [...] Drivers of that reluctance include: (a) the impact of the disclosure on the patient-physician relationship, (b) the impact on public trust of the custodian, and (c) potential for litigation. [...] In that case the REB may allow identifiable information to be disclosed for the purpose of linking without requiring the consent of the patients. [...] In addition to the compelling evidence for the difference between consenters and non-consenters, seeking consent does result in a reduction of the number of individu- als who agree to provide data or allow their data to be used.
confidentiality confidential communications informed consent medical care disclosure of information medical records

Authors

El Emam, Khaled

Pages
81
Published in
Canada

Related Topics

All