The Recommendations of a Canadian Royal Commission Relating to Computer-Based Health Record Keeping *.

Abstract The Report of the Ontario Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Confidentiality of Health Information was released in late December 1980 after approximately 3 years of hearings, investigations, and deliberation. The report makes 170 recommendations on subjects from the rights of police to access patient data to the right of a patient to access his or her own records. Chapter 18 addresses the particular problems associated with computer-based information systems holding patient data for research or service utilization. Recommendations 36 through 42 propose solutions to the problems raised by these systems. Among the recommendations are: that the establishment of medical databases be controlled through registration and licensing by a data protection agency; that specific minimum security procedures be enforced; that patient-identified data be specially handled; that patient access to the data be permitted; that there be a routine security audit; and that known security violations be published. These recommendations place constraints on the clinical researcher using computer-based systems for information management.