Mapping Data Flows and Consent
Map all patient data flows and establish appropriate consent procedures to ensure secure and compliant healthcare data management. Identify each stage of data handling, from encounter recording and transcription to clinical note drafting, and define clear purposes, access controls, and retention rules for every data copy. Assess the legal and ethical requirements for recording consent, respect patient preferences, and ensure compliance with HIPAA and applicable consent laws. Document relevant agreements, safeguards, and security controls for each data flow. Verify that all workflows protect patient privacy, maintain data integrity, and meet applicable regulatory requirements.
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“Where does the patient’s data go?” sounds like a question for the privacy team, but in an FDE interview it’s yours. A recording creates a copy of the encounter before any clinician sees a draft. Lakeside’s proposed workflow also creates a transcript, a model request, a response, and, almost by accident, diagnostic logs and backups. Each copy needs a purpose, a list of who can read it, a retention rule, and an agreement that covers it. You’ll map those copies, then work out what consent, contracts, and settings each one needs.
Where does patient data go?
Recall the failure from the brief: an encounter with no allergy history produced a draft that says “No known medication allergies.” Start well before that draft exists. The proposed path captures audio, transcribes it, selects encounter text for a Responses request, and shows the response to a clinician for review.
Recording, transcription, sending text to a model service, and filing are four separate decisions. A review button at the end can’t authorize any of the earlier ones.
A data-flow inventory lists every place information is sent, processed, or stored, including copies made for support and recovery. For each node, record the data, its purpose, the service and location, who can access it, how long it’s kept, who approved it, and who owns it. The diagram shows the proposed flow and its decision points.
What does the inventory contain?
Nothing below is approved yet. Where Lakeside hasn’t picked a service, the inventory says “unresolved” instead of guessing a retention period.
Capture device: Records encounter audio for transcription. The recording clinician and device administrators need access. Open questions are the device, local caching, deletion, and who may approve recording at all.
Recording storage: Holds the audio for transcription and possibly review. Access is limited to the clinician and designated support roles. The storage service, location, retention, and backups are unresolved.
Transcription: A service turns audio into text. If it’s an outside vendor, it’s a business associate and needs a BAA before it receives ...