UDLCO CRH: Data fiduciary roles for preventing data leakage are analogous to universal precautions for infection transmission prevention

Summary

The article discusses the importance of correctly identifying roles under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, particularly in healthcare. Many organizations are confused about whether they're acting as Data Fiduciaries or Data Processors, which can lead to costly mistakes. The solution is to adopt "universal precautions" like in infection transmission, assuming all patient handlers are Data Fiduciaries and ensuring transparency in data sharing, storage, and usage.

Keywords

Data Fiduciary, Data Processor, Digital Personal Data Protection Act, healthcare, data leakage, universal precautions, patient data, data sharing

Conversational learning Transcripts:

[21/01, 08:35]hu1: One of the most underestimated risks under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is not cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, or even consent. It is the incorrect identification of roles.

Across hospitals, laboratories, telemedicine platforms, health-tech startups, insurers, and research organisations, there is widespread confusion about one fundamental question:

Are we acting as a Data Fiduciary or a Data Processor?

This article explains the difference clearly, using real healthcare scenarios, global lessons, and practical guidance to help Indian healthcare organisations avoid one of the costliest DPDP mistakes.

Read article: https://lnkd.in/dqStmWGd

[21/01, 08:49]hu2: I guess the best solution in this scenario would be similar to what is adopted for infection transmission aka "universal precautions" where every patient that needs to be handled by healthcare professionals is assumed to be HIV positive and every patient is treated equally in terms of precautions and not singled out sometimes hilariously as in this recent viral image attached!

Hence let's assume all health professional patient handlers including hospital administrators are data fiduciaries and they need to be clear why they need to share collected patient data (for example toward case based reasoning insights) as well as how long it is stored (lifelong ideally for eternity to run scientific case based reasoning engines), who it is shared with (ideally everyone after irreversible deidentification), 

how it is used in treatment, billing, research, or analytics (ideally that would automatically become transparent and accountable in a scientifically irreversibly deidentified learning ecosystem). This means all the Healthcare operaters in layered ecosystems listed below

as each of these touch patient data and each introduces decision-making at different points:

hospitals

franchise networks

diagnostic labs

SaaS platforms

cloud infrastructure

AI vendors

research partners

telemedicine platforms

operational outsourcing

...are data fiduciaries!

Thematic Analysis

The main theme is the need for clarity on data roles in healthcare to prevent data leakage. Key points include:

- Incorrect role identification is a major risk under the DPDP Act.

- Healthcare organizations are unsure if they're Data Fiduciaries or Data Processors.

- Adopting "universal precautions" can help ensure data protection.

- All patient handlers, including hospitals and tech platforms, should be considered Data Fiduciaries.

- Transparency is key in data sharing, storage, and usage.

The article highlights the importance of understanding data roles and responsibilities in healthcare to ensure patient data protection.