Surgery Demographics – Security and Confidentiality

Surgery demographics are the statistics compiled about the age, gender, race and other characteristics of those undergoing surgery. Essentially surgery demographics seek to answer the question: “who is having surgery?” For certain types of surgery, like cosmetic procedures, that information is closely followed. For example in 2007, we know that nine out of ten cosmetic procedures were performed on women. For other surgeries, this information is a little more difficult to find. For the consumer, there are really only two things about surgery demographics that are great importance: “Are other people like me having this surgery?” and “Is my medical information safe?”

 

 

According to a study done by the Pew Charitable Trusts, more than 80 percent of people that use the internet have done so in order to find medical information. When they look for information about surgery demographics, often they are really trying to find other people that are going through what they are. People want to know what a specific surgical procedure is like and they want reassurance that others like them have successfully navigated through the process. While there are new innovations occurring in surgery virtually all the time, most people can take comfort in the fact that someone has been where you are and has endured what you are about to endure.

 

The other issue that is of concern to many people is the security of their medical information. In 1996, the United States passed a very important piece of legislation that placed strict guidelines on how medical information, including surgery demographics data, was collected, stored and shared. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act describes in great detail who is allowed to view your medical information, the security required to keep it safe and the penalties for not following this act. The only people that are allowed to view your medical records are those that are directly involved in your care—if you do not authorize an entity to view your records, they break the law by doing so. HIPAA (many pronounce it as “hip-ah”) even provides strict guidelines about how medical professionals are allowed to use and discuss the information once they are authorized to view it. Whenever possible, authorized medical professionals use information that cannot specifically identify the patient. In fact, if a doctor or nurse is directly asked by an unauthorized person if a patient has received any care at all, they are bound to flatly refuse to confirm or deny knowledge. The medical professions have taken this act very seriously and, since 1996, great strides have been made in keeping medical information safe, including surgery demographics.

 

As we move closer to a single, unified electronic medical record, HIPAA provides guidance as to how information can be accessed and by whom. As medical records are increasingly becoming digitized and stored electronically, the encryption and security of the information is a top priority. When breakdowns in the system occur, it is almost always through careless human error rather than a defect in digital security. In other words, your surgery demographics information is safe and will only become more so as we develop new secure technologies.