As the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange sets its sights on exchange of genomic data, one of the main issues to address is security of the information.
Last week, WEDI announced it is forming a workgroup that will focus on genomic data exchange and the integration of genomic data within the U.S. healthcare system.
In a recent interview with HealthcareInfoSecurity, WEDI CEO Devin Jopp said one of the big issues when it comes to genomics is data ownership.
"Who owns the data?" he asked. "And who has the right to access the data and how?"
Another part is how to move the data, while making sure security controls are in place, he said.
Commenting on privacy and security in President Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative surrounding genomic data, Jopp said that there's infrastructure missing around how to move and secure the data.
"I don't know that that was necessarily baked into the plan, but I think it's something as an industry we're going to have to address," he said.
What's more, he said, segmentation in the industry is already a problem today; the genome component takes it to a whole new level.
The collection and use of genomic data is growing; researchers from Canada, Europe and the United States in July called on major funding agencies to set up a global genomic data repository in the cloud available to authorized researchers worldwide.
To learn more:
- listen to the interview