mHealth Data Security, Privacy, and Confidentiality Guidelines: Companion Checklist

Author(s): Lauren Spigel, Samuel Wambugu, Christina Villella

Year: 2018

Abstract:

The mHealth Data Security, Privacy, and Confidentiality Checklist will help mHealth project managers and health information systems (HIS) officials from ministries of health assess security, privacy and confidentiality concerns of mHealth programs.

This checklist is designed to be used hand in hand with the mHealth Data Security, Privacy, and Confidentiality Guidelines. It is organized to follow the same order as the sections in the guidelines.

The checklist has two main goals:

• Self-assessment: This checklist is to be used by mHealth managers and ministry of health HIS officials to assess the ability of mHealth programs to ensure the security, privacy, and confidentiality of sensitive health data. Although there is no built-in scoring system, items in the checklist are considered best practices.
• Plan: This checklist will help implementers and policy managers identify security, privacy, and confidentiality considerations for mHealth programs. This checklist is not comprehensive, but it lays out critical elements of a robust security system within mHealth programs. 

This checklist contains action-oriented steps that organizations and policymakers can take to bolster protections of sensitive data stored in mHealth ecosystems.