Protection of Personal Information Act and its impact on the healthcare industry
As you might know, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is a reality and compliance by stakeholders in the healthcare industry, as in every industry, is required.
Your Scheme, the administrator, managed care organisations and other third-party providers all need to reconsider how to process your personal information and personal health data.
Many Acts already guide us on how to protect, collect, use, store and process this sensitive data and POPIA needs to be aligned to all of these. Some shared questions across all existing Acts are:
- Who is accountable for the protection of your data?
- Why and how do we need to share your health data?
- What consent is required and how do we get it?
- What are we allowed to use your data for?
- Who fulfils which role and responsibilities when sharing your data?
Where do we stand?
Together with our partners and stakeholders, we are currently identifying whether we are compliant in all areas or whether we need to make improvements. We are investigating, for example:
- How we collect data and documents from you and / or your healthcare providers
- How we share information, for example with pharmacies, doctors rooms and hospitals, call centres and managed care organisations
- How we keep your information secure and protected.
Some changes might be necessary in the handling and safeguarding of your information, although some have already been implemented in anticipation of POPIA when we changed administrator.
The president has yet to announce the commencement date of the Act, and when he does, stakeholders in the industry will be granted a year to ensure compliance.
What does it mean for you as a member?
As a member of Anglo Medical Scheme you might already have been asked for consent to share your data with certain parties, or you have been asked to give consent for your dependants to use the member log in on the Scheme website. You might wonder why you cannot see the details of your adult dependant's treatment or medication or why we cannot just send your statements to someone other than yourself to help you manage your affairs. All of these measures are necessary to ensure the protection of your or your dependants' personal and health information.