Due to more restrictive and unclear rules in the Netherlands for the reuse of patient data for research, opportunities for healthcare research remain unused. While the ‘consent system’ (opt-in system) is generally used in the Netherlands for the reuse of patient data for research – reuse is only allowed with explicit consent – in many other European countries an objection system (opt-out) applies or reuse is allowed without further ado if the data is properly secured. This has emerged from research by the MLC Foundation and Nivel. The researchers advocate an objection system as a starting point for research that is in the public interest and in which the security of the data is assured. The research was commissioned by Health-RI as part of their ‘data reuse obstacles removal traject’.
The full report can be found here.
