Health informatics broadly refers to the use of information technology and data management methods in healthcare. For example, in storing and sharing electronic health records (EHRs), integrating data from wearable devices or telemedicine apps, supporting clinical decision making, enabling research, and more.
Data Privacy in Healthcare: Global Challenges and Solutions highlights how the digitization of healthcare has increased both the value and vulnerability of health data. Health informatics systems integrate identifying information with clinical details such as diagnoses, genetic data, mental health records, and treatment histories. Unauthorized access or data breaches can result in identity theft, discrimination, stigma, or psychological harm, making strong privacy protections ethically necessary rather than optional.
From an ethical perspective, data privacy in health informatics is closely tied to the principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice. Respecting patient autonomy requires that individuals have meaningful control over how their data is collected, used, and shared. Many healthcare systems still lack transparent consent processes, especially when data is reused for research, artificial intelligence, or secondary analysis. This raises ethical concerns when patients are unaware of how their information circulates within or beyond health systems.
Accessibility is another critical part of data privacy in health informatics. Poorly designed privacy protections can unintentionally exclude or disadvantage certain populations. For example, complex consent forms or inaccessible patient portals may be difficult for people with disabilities, low health literacy or digital literacy, or language barriers to understand. This can prevent individuals from exercising informed consent over their own data.
Data privacy is not only a technical issue but a moral and social one that shapes how inclusive, fair, and effective health informatics systems can be.