The current state of electronic consent systems in e-Health for privacy preservation

Abstract

Consent management is a significant function in electronic health information systems as it allows patients to manage the privacy preferences regarding their health information. Placing patients in control of the privacy of their health information ensures that the risks for reputational and personal harm are reduced. Several approaches towards patient consent management solutions, ranging from software prototypes to conceptual models, have been adopted in response to the need for privacy preservation. The purpose of this paper is to review these approaches and to identify areas that still need to be addressed – particularly in terms of the automated enforcement of consent directives, interoperability, as well as standardised healthcare data exchange.