Data protection in healthcare

This lens tackles data protection from the perspective (or through the lens) of the healthcare sector. Data protection provisions have been included in healthcare laws for many years and therefore this is not a new issue.

Data protection has a big impact on the healthcare industry. It treats information about the health, well-being, and the sex lives of individuals as especially sensitive and lays down strict rules about how this information must be handled. At the same time, technology has made it much easier to lose, copy, steal, delete, or misuse large databases of sensitive information.

The chance of you suffering a data breach for the health-related personal information you process has, therefore, increased dramatically. The risks of reputational damage associated with data breaches are also higher than in the past. With all of this in mind, it is very important for the healthcare sector, including the individuals and operators (or processors) that process health information, to understand the impact of privacy and data protection laws.

The main question remains: when can you process personal information about a person’s health?

This becomes all the more urgent and important in the context of the coronavirus.

What laws apply to your processing?

Privacy in healthcare is hard because there are so many laws that apply. Not only do healthcare laws apply but there are often multiple data protection laws that also apply. Knowing what laws prevail and practically applying them is hard.

Will joining the data protection help my organisation comply?

Yes. We understand that you may be working with limited resources and budgets. We want to help you in the most efficient and cost-effective way.  Our data protection in healthcare lens specifically answers these questions for you. This practical lens takes you through the key actions healthcare providers must take to protect personal data and privacy.

If you’ve joined one of our core programmes then you get complimentary access to this lens. This lens is for all organisations in the healthcare industry and includes:

• medical professionals (like doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, chiropractors);
• healthcare institutions or facilities or social services (like hospitals, GP practices, clinics);
• insurance companies, medical schemes, medical scheme administrators and managed healthcare organisations;
• schools that provide special support for pupils or schools that make special arrangements in connection with their health or sex life;
• any public or private body managing the care of a child;
• administrative bodies, pension funds, employers or institutions working for them; and
• researchers.

Data protection laws will also affect anyone who collects, stores, reads, communicates, administers, analyses or in any other way handles personal medical information on behalf of the health and related sectors, including employees (secretaries, assistants, technicians), database administrators, and certain other specialised service providers (including those in ‘the cloud’) and operators (or processors) such as loyalty scheme providers.

• Ensure the safety and privacy of your data subjects’ special personal information.
• Raise your awareness by learning about the multiple data protection laws that apply to your organisation.
• Protect minors and vulnerable data subjects from potentially harmful data breaches.
• Empower yourself with the tools to process special personal information safely and in line with the law.
• Reduce your overall costs of compliance by doing it yourself with our assistance.
• Avoid damage to your organisation’s reputation by complying with the law.

• We have extensive experience in data protection laws that apply to organisation processing medical information.
• We strongly believe in using the law to prevent harm. This especially applies to healthcare.
• We have significant practical experience dealing with data protection law in the healthcare sector.
• We know that those in the healthcare sector are very busy people, which is why we aim to save you time and money.
• We provide insights that simplify the issues, empowering you to work through the obligations yourself.

You can work through this lens at your own pace and go as fast or slow as you like. Depending on the data protection processes you already have in place, it could take you a few hours or a few weeks to work through this lens.