Manatt privacy and data security Co-leader Scott Lashway and Manatt Health Managing Director Alice Lam spoke with PatientEngagementHIT about how digital vaccine credentialing services (DVCS) can be a vital tool for America’s reopening, as well as the possible privacy and security implications that come with them. Lam explained that we need to address important social drivers to increase equitable access, not just to vaccines, but to health care more generally, noting that technology itself can perpetuate some health disparities. “This may bear out here, too, when you think about how digital the vaccine credential systems would work,” she added.
The publication also noted that DVCS could offer an opportunity for the health care industry to reassess terms of use agreements, recognizing that many consumers don’t even read them. “There can probably be some simplified disclosures, maybe summary disclosures provided to folks in the form of a Q and A or short bullet list,” Lashway explained. “’Here are the things that we care about, here’s what we can and can't do with your data. And here's why we’re collecting the data from you.’”