TELEMEDICINE AND DATA SECURITY – WAY AHEAD
Abstract
Tele medicine includes the provision f remote health services using electronic and telecommunication technologies to provide exchange of information between patient and doctors when distance separates them. In the recent years we have seen the acceptance of telemedicine as a means of health care delivery. Telemedicine came into existence in 1970s, but the nature of telemedicine that exists today and back then was very different, where only the basic consultation was offered and that too in very few cases. Now we have systems which can even generate diagnosis based on the information that is provided to it. Even though initial resistance was there from the patient’s end, gradually this concept gained acceptance and it is widely used across the world. During the Covid Pandemic the use of this method increased and now diseases that requires critical care to long time care are covered through this method.
With the increased use of the method we are also witnessing the increase in the misuse of data exchanged online. There have been cases of data being stolen, wrong diagnosis being done and also other cybercrimes based on the personal information of the patient. Given this scenario it is important to examine the data privacy issues and find out optimal solutions for the same. If data privacy and security issues are not addressed, we can witness adverse effect on the growth and acceptance of this concept in the long run. With the increase in the global population the number of people who will be availing eHealth services will also increase. For patient who are having cognitive impairment, the matter of informed consent and security of the data is important and many a time they may go ahead with the treatment without awareness about the impact it will have in future. (Stowe, Harding, 2010). Bibliometric analysis on data security in the area of telemedicine states that most of the studies only highlights the lapses in maintenance of data but very few are focusing on the solutions. This shows that the focus areas highlighted by most of the policy makers does not cover the area of data breach and ensuring data security.
