Healthcare Data Access: A Norwegian Regulatory Perspective

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Healthcare Policy
• Information Security

Background:

• Patient-centered care necessitates data sharing among multiple healthcare personnel (HCP) across different organizations.
• Safeguarding sensitive patient data privacy during inter-organizational access presents significant complexities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe the obstacles hindering health data access between various stakeholders.
• To analyze Norwegian legislation concerning data documentation, confidentiality, and HCP access.

Main Methods:

• Review of Norwegian laws and regulations pertaining to healthcare data.
• Analysis of technical requirements for HCP identification and cross-organizational data access.

Main Results:

• Norwegian legislation supports inter-organizational data access for healthcare provision.
• Current laws require robust HCP identification and data access systems, which are technically challenging to implement.
• Existing legal frameworks pose difficulties in achieving seamless and secure data exchange.

Conclusions:

• While legislation aims to facilitate healthcare data access, technical solutions for secure identification and access remain a significant hurdle.
• There is a gap between legal requirements for data sharing and the current technical capabilities to meet these demands securely.