September 14, 2006
AMIA Report on Secondary Use of Health Data
Health information has become valuable. The access and aggregation of healthcare data poses philosophical including ethical, political, technical, and economic challenges. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) did not adequately address the issues of sharting health data.
The American Medical Informatics Asociation (AMIA) conviened a panel of experts to make recommendations for guidelines in the access and use of what is known as the 'Secondary Use of Health Data.' This week AMIA released the final report called "Toward a National Framework for the Secondary Use of Health Data."
The report includes five (5) key recommendations:
• Recommendation 1: Increase the transparency of data use and public awareness;
• Recommendation 2: Focus ongoing discussions on data access, use, and control (not on ownership);
• Recommendation 3a: Continue discussions on privacy policy and security with regard to the secondary use of health data;
• Recommendation 3b: Increase public awareness efforts on the benefits and challenges associated with the secondary use of health data;
• Recommendation 4a: Create a taxonomy of the secondary use of health data;
• Recommendation 4b: Address increasingly difficult current and evolving questions related to the secondary use of health data in a comprehensive manner; and
• Recommendation 5: Focus national and state attention on the secondary use of health data.
For a copy of the report and to read the Press release, visit the AMIA Web site at: http://www.amia.org/inside/initiatives/healthdata.asp