To be printed on a PHISC letterhead

GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF HEALTH INFORMATION

PHISC (Private Health Information Standards Committee) is a grouping of representatives of organisations committed to, inter alia, the development and promotion of common health information standards in the private healthcare sector in South Africa.

The forerunner to PHISC was the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Steering Committee, which developed common EDI message standards, and the work of this committee continues in the Message Standards Task Group of PHISC. Other sub-committees have been established within PHISC, one of which if the Sub-Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality. The final product of the deliberations at this Committee was the “Guiding Principles on Privacy and Confidentiality of Health Information”.

In the spirit of co-operation, the members of PHISC would encourage all stakeholders in the healthcare industry to make their protocols freely available to the industry via PHISC. In this way, information and ideas can be pooled and the best solution for South Africa can be debated and recommended as a national guideline.

Where parties feel unable to participate in the PHISC processes, it would be most helpful, and welcomed, if they would be prepared to indicate where conflicts occur between their protocols / guidelines / standards and that published by PHISC, with a view to resolving such conflicts wherever possible.

Should you wish to familiarise yourself with the operations of PHISC, this information is accessible on the PHISC website www._________________.

Hester Huysamen

Chairperson: PHISC Privacy and Confidentiality Sub-Committee

Lynn Hamner

Chairperson: PHISC

20 September 2005