Safety and security standards in eHealth are tightly bounded to the nature of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies. Awareness of Identity Management and supportive technologies like biometrics are triggers for rapid deployment of significantly better, standard-based security solutions.

RFID and NFC hold the promise of improving patient care by reducing medical errors or by monitoring the supply chain of medication. However, tagging raises a number of significant legal, ethical and psychological questions and one of the tasks of BioHealth is discussing benefits as well as limitations and threats. Particular attention is on involving the stakeholders in the discussion and communicating issues of general interest to the public. Without a wide perception of RFID as a sufficiently safe and secure device, all the technological benefits will be useless.

The latest BioHealth newsletter deals with aspects of RFID and NFC in eHealth. E.g. the technologies are defined, applications are suggested and concerns and counteractions are being measured.

The newsletter is available at http://www.gsf.de/imei/biohealth/index.php?lang=en