iHealth Record

The My Health Record challenges facing Australia right now are something to reflect on.

• It’s not about security.
• It’s not about potential benefits only.
• It’s not just about the $2b potentially spent

As Paul Shelter suggested on Twitter “They are calling this My Health Record. But right now, this is a Government Health Record, about you. For it to be “your” health record, you really have to own the data and affirmatively consent to any access to it.”

In a related article he says

““Let the user actually own the data. That’s a massive point. And when the user wants to check the data out (remove), then it is physically expunged from the system. People don’t trust government to do these things right now.”

Taking this logic as a starting point I want to suggest a reset and a way out.

If we take the principle that “I” as a user should own the data and the ability to decide where and when it’s used. When it’s not used it is a starting point.

Second, we need a way to have two way capture. One to provide my identity and data and then two, to capture the new data generated at every interaction.

In the blockchain world, self sovereignity is a big thing. We need to own our identity and our data.

By creating a new iHealthRecord (IHR) we start to create a new identity. I control and own the identity and the data.

As I go on my daily duties and when and if I need to connect to a part of the health system — GP, hospitals, insurance and so on I decide to give the authority to use the data.

Through smart contracts (think of totally secure cryptography code) that will send the right data at the time of need. And only the data I approve.

Through private and public encryption keys it is totally possible to create a secure and user controlled system.

There are minds cleverer then me who can build on this idea.

Lets move from MHR to IHR.