Health information privacy: The patient perspective

Technological advances permitting the electronic storage and transfer of health information come with the promise of improving the quality of health care. This technology also, however, by making private information so readily accessible and transmissible, poses a threat to the privacy of the information and to the confidentiality of the doctor–patient relationship. Confidentiality is fundamental to maintaining trust in doctors and in the medical profession as a whole. Through research surveys, and through complaints, we know that patients consider privacy and confidentiality important. In our move to embrace electronic health systems in the name of quality, we need to be mindful of this if we are to preserve the trust of the public in the medical profession.