Dear Medical Observer / Australian Doctor The current edition of both your magazines report the recent discussions on the ozdocit list about the sending of unencrypted emails from the Austin to local general practitioners. The Australian Doctor article quotes Dr Larkin as saying "there were no common software standards, sending encrypted emails was impossible unless all GPs, specialists and hospitals used the same software". Medical Observer finishes by saying, "encrypted emails can only be read by the receiver, who needs to have compatible software". Dr Larkin is wrong, at least from a technical viewpoint, and Medical Observer, although probably correct, has not given its readers a clear idea of what "compatible" might mean.
A basic knowledge of these public key encryption is necessary for GPs to make sense of the advice they are being given by various groups. This is becomingly increasingly urgent now that a critical mass of GPs have their data purely in electronic format. They are keen to go the last step to a paperless practice by using electronic communication between clinicians. Most tutorials on the web get down to a level complexity that will not be of interest to GPs. However, I suspect that the former GPCG Security Committee, chaired by Associate Professor Peter Schattner, has such information suitable in a format for general practitioners. My own (brief) explanation to my colleagues is that each user generates a pair of electronic keys on their computer. One is called the public key and is disseminated widely. The other is the private key, which they must keep secure. The main idea behind public key encryption is that if one encrypts a piece of data with one key it can *only* be unencrypted with the other. Thus the combination of public / private keys for both sender and receiver permits the transmission of data with a high degree of confidence in the privacy and authenticity of the message. I believe it would even be worthwhile reviewing the currently available medical communication products and the particular technologies they use. There is fierce competition in this area and the result will be that only a few providers will prevail. I expect the winners in this race will be known in eighteen months time. Yours sincerely David Guest
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