GDPR – A GOOD THING FOR THE DIGITAL HEALTH INDUSTRY

The Biggest Data Change in 20 years
 
The deadline for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is fast approaching and those companies that aren’t compliant by the 25 May 2018 face significant fines.
 
There is no doubt that this represents the biggest change in data protection law for 20 years, particularly for the healthcare sector due to the type of sensitive personal data involved. These concerns are not helped by the track record of the NHS itself which has previously received fines for breaches of the current Data Protection Act, and fears have been raised as to the number of data security lapses in the healthcare system.
 
Digital Health Sector Faces Close Scrutiny
The fast evolving digital healthcare marketplace is therefore likely to be under close scrutiny too as digital health apps manage (collect, store, share) health data which, according to GDPR, is sensitive and subject to criminal law responsibility. This is necessary to be able to provide patients with access to health services 24/7 which can be delivered via bespoke video app technology anywhere in the world. The immediacy of these digital health services is extremely valuable to patients and provides peace of mind and certainty but only if they know their data is safe.
GDPR -  A Good Thing

At Square Health we welcome GDPR and the protection it brings. We believe it is essential to have effective and adequate protection against information security breaches as can be demonstrated by recent headlines. We have always been committed to compliance, information security and data privacy are one of the few companies in the health-tech sector that has achieved ISO/IEC 27001:2013 accreditation.

We believe this helps to reassure our partners which include insurance companies, employers and other corporate entities such as VitalityHealth, LV = and British Friendly Society where we have customised our digital healthcare solution to support their proposition.

Our compliance, IT and legal teams have worked together with data protection experts to ensure we have the required safeguards in place to meet GDPR. As part of data protection security we have always trained our employees to recognise and prioritise the security and protection of data and this training has been updated to incorporate the GDPR requirements.

In conclusion, we do not see GDPR as the end game as we are always looking to raise the bar in data security and integrity above.

By Bippon Vinayak, Founder at Square Health