Crossing borders

Health data can cross borders in different ways. It is inherent to the modern age with all its technologies that there are no limits to a country’s borders.

Due to the very nature of modern technologies, whether they are used within or outside the medical context, health data can be collected, used and stored anywhere in the world. A patient file can physically travel across borders or be transferred among medical professionals digitally as we have seen in Anna’s case. Commercial parties furthermore collect, use and store data via their apps and online services from their users all over the world.

But there are more ways for health data to travel across borders. One of these includes medical research where data can be shared between research institutions all over the world. We will discuss cross-border transfer and medical research in the following activities. Later this week, we will deal with several safeguards for protecting health data when it is processed and transferred.