The National Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a draft internal report and is accepting public comments through April 3.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
According to the NCCoE announcement, genomic data is valuable to patients, healthcare providers and governments.
However, the characteristics of this highly valuable data raise concerns about privacy and risk management – including national security.
NIST, MITER and academic researchers note in the report that genomic data can be used to monitor, oppress, and blackmail populations and, if corrupted, potentially delay research or lead to harmful products.
They identify gaps in protection practices in the generation, sharing, collection, storage, and monitoring of genomic data, and address gaps in guidance specifically addressing unique needs. of the genomic data fusion processor.
NIST also recommends strategies “to address real-life use cases occurring at different stages of the genomic data lifecycle” and guidelines for potential government regulations and policies. .
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
Health professionals can look at an individual’s specific health attributes – including genomic data – to tailor treatments more tailored to improve patient outcomes.
Healthcare technology companies, like Sophia Genetics, are working with tech giants like Microsoft to balance data across silos, improve clinical workflows, and raise standards of care. .
Meanwhile, Sarah Prezek, principal associate and project manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, proposes community service to advance the regulatory science behind precision medicine programs.
In December, she and her colleagues said Healthcare IT News readers that innovation is needed to ensure the safety and effectiveness of regulatory tools, and to provide a community service that allows bioinformatics companies and other stakeholders to validate their technologies and approaches.
“By institutionalizing community sourcing into their precision medicine programs, stakeholders such as precision medicine developers, regulators, citizen scientists, research groups, Small business owners and healthcare organizations can dramatically broaden their thinking and approach to address the many challenges in this rapidly emerging economy. ” they say.
ON PROFILE
The characteristics of genomic data compared with other high-value data sets pose a number of privacy and cybersecurity challenges, respectively, that are not adequately addressed with the NCCoE, the NCCoE said in the announcement. current policies, guidelines and technical controls”.
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
