Anger Over EU Medical Data-Sharing

ukhackster writes "A row is brewing in Europe over plans to make medical records available across the EU. The scheme calls for interoperability between health systems in 22 different countries. Experts are predicting that security problems could expose confidential patient records, with one calling the affair 'a colossal waste of money and energy.' This 'e-Health' initiative reflects similar projects in the United States, and raises many of the same issues discussed here. The article makes it clear that many important issues, such as security, privacy, and the rights of patients, are still up in the air as the project moves forward. Could this be another huge IT project disaster on the horizon?"

Comments

Re:Not an IT disaster, but a political disaster.

[cerberusss]

A simpler solution would be to agree on a standardized data format and data content for medical records. This alone would take years.

This already exists for many, many years. It's called HL7.

Re:alternative

[Da Fokka]

In the Netherlands, about 60000 hospital admissions can be attributed to avoidable problems with medication (e.g. taking penicilin whilst being allergic to it). The information is there, it's just not accessible. Yes, this is a serieus problem and IT can make a difference. In different countries there are different approaches:
  - In the UK, all medical information will be put into one huge central database ('the Spine'). All pharmacists, phycisians and GPs can choose between about 4 programs, all government mandated. The project is suffering from huge delays, widespread criticism and is already considered a failure.
  - In Germany, all medical information will also be stored in a central database. Everyone will get a smartcard which will be needed to access this information. This will ensure patient control over their information.
  - In the Netherlands, the main idea is that the care provider will retain control over the patient data. A central directory will know the whereabouts of this information and serve as an information broker between Healthcare Information Systems. Eventually, all software will have to support certain interaction with this central directory. The interactions will be based on HL7v3, an international standard.

Since I am involved in implementing the dutch system, that's the one I know most about. I believe it's a good idea and a good compromise between availability of data and privacy. That being said, the system (called AORTA) does have some issues which will need to be resolved before widespreak adoption can take place.