Notice Regarding Disclosure of Medical Data (Sample)

Dear patients:

In accordance with the Next-Generation Medical Infrastructure Act, this hospital will disclose medical data properly obtained from you to a state-certified business (certified to prepare anonymized, and or pseudonymized medical data), for the purpose of improving the quality of our health, medical and human services.

If you do not want your medical data to be disclosed:

You may direct that the disclosure of your data be stopped at any time. If you do not want your data to be disclosed, please notify the organization listed below under “Contact information for inquiries.”

Opting out of the disclosure of your data will not result in any unfavorable consequences for you.

The actual disclosure of your data to the certified data preparation service provider will only occur after one month from the date you get notified.

For children under 16 years of age and persons who may be unable to make decisions independently, another person such as a parent or guardian may also give the direction to opt out of disclosure.

Frequently asked questions:

Question number 1: What data will be disclosed to the state-certified business?

Answer: Basic information including your name, gender, date of birth, postal code, and insurance policy number; as well as medical clerkings; test results; past illnesses; current consultation status; medications; nursing and care records; and billing information for medical and or care costs will be disclosed to the state-certified business.

For more details, please visit this hospital website.

These are data collected in the course of your treatment at this hospital.

If you continue to receive medical care at this hospital, future treatment data will also be disclosed to the state-certified business.

Question number 2: How will the data be disclosed?

Answer: The data will be sent with personal information encrypted, via a channel with advanced safety controls.

Question number 3: What will be done with the disclosed medical data?

Answer: The state-certified business will process the data in one of the following ways and provide it to research and development personnel.

First, Pseudonymization: Information including names, addresses and telephone numbers that may be used to directly identify an individual will be deleted or modified.

This processing will be carried out under strict supervision to ensure the data cannot be used alone to identify any specific individual.

Pseudonymized data will only be provided to research and development personnel belonging to state-certified organizations for the purpose of particularly high-level research and development.

Second, Anonymization: Information including names, addresses and telephone numbers that may be used to directly identify an individual, as well as additional information such as idiosyncratic descriptions, will be partially deleted or modified. This processing will be carried out in such a way that it will not be possible to identify any specific individual or reconstruct the medical information.

For further information, please visit the following Cabinet Office website. (www8.cao.go.jp/iryou/index.html)

Contact information for inquiries

Consultation Center (Japan Medical Association Medical Information Management Organization)

Phone number: 0120-356-396

Mon-Fri 9:30-17:30 (except weekends, holidays, the year-end and new-year period)

The contents of the notice may differ depending on enterprises handling medical information. For details, please check the notification document issued or posted.