Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publisher
SRI Security Research Institute, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia
Abstract
Information privacy requirements of patients and information requirements of healthcare providers (HCP) are competing concerns. Reaching a balance between these requirements have proven difficult but is crucial for the success of eHealth systems. The traditional approaches to information management have been preventive measures which either allow or deny access to information. We believe that this approach is inappropriate for a domain such as healthcare. We contend that introducing information accountability (IA) to eHealth systems can reach the aforementioned balance without the need for rigid information control. IA is a fairly new concept to computer science, hence, there are no unambiguously accepted principles as yet. However, the concept delivers promising advantages to information management in a robust manner. Accountable-eHealth (AeH) systems are eHealth systems which use IA principles as the measure for privacy and information management. AeH systems face three main impediments; technological, social and ethical and legal. In this paper, we present the AeH model and focus on the legal aspects of AeH systems in Australia. We investigate current legislation available in Australia regarding health information management and identify future legal requirements if AeH systems are to be implemented in Australia.
DOI
10.4225/75/5796f5b740a96
Comments
1st Australian eHealth Informatics and Security Conference, held on the 3rd-5th December, 2012 at Novotel Langley Hotel, Perth, Western Australia