Access and authorisation in a Glocal e-Health Policy context.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Public Policy
• Information Security

Background:

• Developing adaptable policies and tools for electronic health record (EHR) security faces significant challenges.
• E-health's capability to transcend geo-political barriers complicates the creation of standardized security measures.
• Current policy development often occurs in isolation, potentially hindering cross-jurisdictional e-health opportunities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To place EHR access and authorization issues within a broader policy context.
• To describe current Canadian initiatives addressing e-health policy and security.
• To highlight the need for coordinated policy development in the e-health domain.

Main Methods:

• Review of current Canadian e-health policy initiatives.
• Description of the National Initiative for Telehealth (NIFTE) Guidelines project.
• Explanation of the Policy and Peer Permission (PPP) project's data protection tool.
• Overview of Infoway's pan-Canadian EHR solution development.
• Introduction to the Glocal e-Health Policy initiative's inter-relationship analysis tool.

Main Results:

• Multiple Canadian initiatives are underway to address EHR security, policy, and access.
• The NIFTE Guidelines project is creating a national telehealth guideline framework.
• The PPP project is developing a persistent data protection tool.
• Infoway is working on a unified pan-Canadian EHR solution.
• The Glocal e-Health Policy initiative aims to map policy inter-relationships.

Conclusions:

• Coordinated, context-aware policy development is crucial for advancing secure e-health.
• Canadian initiatives demonstrate a multi-faceted approach to tackling EHR security and interoperability.
• Addressing the global nature of e-health requires collaborative and adaptable policy frameworks.