The Regulation Amending the Regulation on Personal Health Data (“Amendment Regulation”) introduced amendments to the Regulation on Personal Health Data (“Regulation”) concerning the rectification of personal health data and the reassessment of previously established diagnoses. The Amendment Regulation entered into force on the date of its publication.
Under the new provision, the action taken by the General Directorate of Health Information Systems of the Ministry of Health upon the application of the data subject will also be implemented in the relevant healthcare service provider’s own database.
Whether the same action will also be implemented in the databases of other institutions and organizations processing the relevant data will be assessed by the respective institutions and organizations in accordance with the applicable legislation.
Under the new provisions, data subjects may apply to healthcare service providers to request the reassessment of previously established diagnoses based on their current health status.
The reassessment process varies depending on the authority that established the diagnosis:
- Diagnoses established by a single physician will be reassessed by a three-physician medical board; and
- Diagnoses established by a three-physician medical board or a fully equipped medical board will be reassessed solely by a fully equipped medical board.
Following the reassessment, a medical board report on the individual’s health status will be issued.
Where a medical board report confirms that a previously established diagnosis is no longer present in the individual’s current health status, any actions and procedures to be carried out based on such diagnosis must be conducted in accordance with the current medical board report.
Without prejudice to specific provisions set forth under the applicable legislation, it has been explicitly stipulated that previously established diagnoses may not be taken as a basis in any process, particularly recruitment processes, and that the current medical board report issued pursuant to the Regulation must be taken into consideration.
Accordingly, where a duly issued medical board report confirms that a previously established diagnosis is no longer present in the individual’s current health status, such previous diagnosis must not be taken as a basis in recruitment and similar processes, without prejudice to specific provisions under the applicable legislation.
In this respect, employers and other data controllers processing the health data of employees and job applicants should review their processes involving the processing of health data, relevant internal policies and procedures, and health data-based assessment mechanisms in light of the new provisions.
