27-Jun-2020 | Market Research Store
Outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19 has created several issues and requirements; one of them being sharing of the patients information who are suffering from the disease. This sharing of the data will help the researchers to better understand the virus and find ways to stop its spread. But the problem that arises with this is how much of the data can the healthcare providers share with the researchers without causing concerns about violation of patient’s privacy.
The National Science Foundation's Rapid Response Research (RAPID) program has given a $200,000 grant for this purpose. It has proposed to build an open-source software tool which will help the healthcare providers and the policy makers to make these decisions.
Epidemiologists make use of the patient information for creating statistical models for determining the factors that may make certain set of populations at risk and also to understand till what extend the disease might spread. In most of the cases the data that is used for the research purpose is in the form of aggregate statistics. This displays only the number of cases that were identified without any personal information about any of the patients. However, in case of coronavirus there is a requirement for the personal-level data in order to understand several health factors that impact the individuals and also its spread.
During this COVID-19 situation, there were concerns regarding the patients privacy as the public health officials keep track of the spread of the virus and have taken into consideration the tech-enabled systems. Dr. Brad Malin, vice chair for research in biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has pointed out about the risks that may occur when the patient data will be let out for the research purpose.
The decision tool that is being developed could evaluate if releasing information about patients' medical histories, such as prescription drug use or smoking history and locations about the patients can increase the risk of identification.
Market Research Store has published the report on the global telehealth market which showcases the increasing importance of the market during COVID-19 pandemic.