Why Your Home Care Software Solution Should Reside in the Country you Provide Care

5 Considerations Why Your Cloud Based Home Care Software Solution Should Reside in the Country Where you Provide Care

Pew Research Centre, an authority on measuring personal information and privacy, routinely polls US audiences and reports that Health Care and medication information ranks second behind only a social security number in terms of ‘very sensitive’ information.

Health information is more sensitive than the content of phone conversations!

This research is an inspiration for a new blog post – Health Data, Hosting and Country Specific Privacy Acts

Below are some worthy considerations for those home care companies looking to work with a new home care software company:

#1

USA companies MUST have data hosted in USA.  Canadian companies SHOULD ABSOLUTELY have data hosted in Canada. Other countries around the world are in a similar vein – for example the UAE (United Arab Emirate) – Home Care Agencies are UNCONDITIONALLY required to keep home care patient data within the borders of UAE.

The implication here is that your software partner must be willing to setup hosting options within the country where care is provided.

#2

Not all privacy and health information acts are equal.  The Amazon HIPAA compliant cloud is ideal for USA, but this is not completely aligned with Canada’s privacy rules (PIPEDA).  Cloud service providers are subject to the laws of the jurisdiction where they are based rather than the user’s jurisdiction

#3

Do you have a privacy officer?  If not elect someone a champion.  Privacy and health information is critical.  Have someone in your organization assume the Subject Matter Expertise (SME) and have a publically facing privacy act.

#4

Another reason to be wary of using a non-localized hosting facility is that health information risks being monitored, analyzed and worse cases used against individuals.

There was a notable example of a Canadian whose sensitive health information was used to prevent her from crossing the border by homeland security. Canadian with mental illnesses denied U.S. entry.  (NOTE: This previous reference has no direct involvement with a homecare company, however, it should be noted the risks of poorly managed data across USA and Canada borders)

#5

Be specific and overt in patient consent.  Let’s face it, no one reads the fine print that shouldn’t stop your clinicians and care workers from discussing electronic health data with patients and families.

There’s obviously fear and anxiety around digital records and data.  Mitigate this apprehension by keeping the data localized in the country and reap the benefits of digital data – ENTER machine learning and data-driven clinical decision support systems.