The Switzerland-based International Organization for Standardization, more commonly known as ISO, has just released two new briefs that address the complex nature of securing electronic medical record data. The organization concluded that documents outlining both data protection principles and guidelines were necessary to provide harmonized international standards for this industry, where information is quite sensitive and regulations regarding data transfer and storage abound.
Although the use of electronic medical records has proliferated throughout the globe as of late, its use is “exacerbating issues such as confidentiality, integrity, availability, and accountability” of the data, according to the Pekka Ruotsalainen, who led the project to develop the standards.
Ruotsalainen’s group produced two documents: Health Informatics – Security requirements for archiving of electronic health records – Principles, and Health Informatics – Security requirements for archiving of electronic health records — Guidelines. Each is available for purchase from the ISO website.
ISO noted that the guidelines and principles were necessary to “provide a powerful solution to address e-health data integrity, including ethical and legal concerns, privacy concerns, regulations concerning access, and disclosing of records.”
“As globalization progresses, patient information is increasingly being transferred across national borders, further highlighting the need for global specifications”, added Ruotsalainen in a statement. “ISO standards offer solutions to help ensure the privacy and longevity of this data independent of technology.”