Survey planned on medical privacy and security

The Center for Practical Bioethics has received a contract from CareEntrust to collaborate in an online survey of 1,000 individuals, including 500 Kansas and Missouri residents.

The contract is an outgrowth of the Center's participation in the CareEntrust Ethics Advisory Council. The Center is working with a national firm to conduct the survey.

CareEntrust is an employer-sponsored, nonprofit, health information-sharing network based in Kansas City. The survey will help the organization make sure its network takes into account customer preferences and values regarding data privacy and security.

Currently, 24 employers in the greater Kansas City area offer the CareEntrust Health Record as a benefit to their health plan participants. This benefit will allow consumers, healthcare providers, and health plans the ability to submit healthcare information into an individual's CareEntrust Health Record.

Most importantly, CareEntrust gives consumers the ability to manage their healthcare information across various healthcare settings and to share this information with their healthcare providers. The sharing of health information will help prevent medical errors and unnecessary hospitalizations while minimizing redundant tests and laboratory procedures. The goal is to ensure that the right information is made available to the right individuals at the right time.  

The survey will include questions that address general bioethical issues involving information usage, such as informed consent, autonomy, and disclosure of health information.

Once the survey is completed, the Center will publish the findings, discussing the implications of public perception of these issues.

Additional information about CareEntrust's health information-sharing network can be found at www.CareEntrust.org.