The health worker pointed out the risks of lifelong data storage in the medical registry

The creation of a single patient registry opens up new opportunities for the healthcare system, but requires special attention to the protection of personal data. This was stated to Izvestia on March 3 by a medical worker of the KDC NCC No. 2 of the Russian National Research Center. Academician of B.V. Petrovsky Valeria Zaretskaya.

According to her, centralized accounting can become an effective planning tool. Such a system will make it possible to objectively assess the actual incidence, understand the need for expensive therapy for patients, and make drug purchases more accurate. This will increase the likelihood of the necessary drugs being available and simplify patient routing: the doctor will be able to see the treatment history, which will reduce the risk of duplicate tests and speed up registration.

At the same time, the expert expressed concern about the impossibility of deleting data from the register even after the diagnosis was removed.

"Lifelong storage of information, especially about psychiatric illnesses, can potentially create difficulties in finding employment, obtaining a driver's license, or applying for insurance. It is important that medical information remains relevant and does not turn into a tool for labeling a person," Zaretskaya said.

In her opinion, the key issue remains the security of the system. We are talking about multi-level encryption, strict separation of access rights and regular independent audit. Any leak from such a registry could have serious consequences for thousands of patients.

Melancholy and boredom: Americans' assessment of their mental health continues to fall

Less than 30% of respondents rate it as "excellent"

At the same time, if all protective measures are followed, the benefits for science can be significant. Anonymized registry data can become the basis for epidemiological studies and evaluation of the effectiveness of therapy in real clinical practice. This will allow analyzing the long-term results of treatment and faster implementation of new medical approaches.

The medical worker stressed that it is crucial to maintain a clear line between the use of anonymized statistics for scientific purposes and the protection of personal data of a particular patient.

Earlier it became known that in Russia, from March 1, the federal register of patients with 12 groups of diseases and conditions begins to operate: from malignant neoplasms and diabetes to psychiatric disorders and pregnancy. According to the Ministry of Health, the system was created to collect statistics and plan the state budget for medicines. However, it is impossible to remove a person's personal data from this register, even if the diagnosis is removed.

On January 12, family and child psychologist, neuropsychologist Maria Todorova told Izvestia that if an employer really has the right to initiate the referral of an employee for psychiatric examination, this can be called a rather dangerous mechanism in terms of social consequences. In this situation, the risk of subjective assessments increases, and therefore stigmatization, when an employee's behavior becomes uncomfortable for someone.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.