Security & Data Protection
Security & data protection
The protection of health data is a top priority for us.
Your trust is our top priority
At OPAN CARE AG, the protection and security of personal data is a top priority. You can expect us to handle your data sensitively and carefully and to ensure a high level of data security.
We collect and use personal data exclusively in accordance with the applicable legal provisions, in particular the Swiss Data Protection Act (DSG) and, where applicable, the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Your data: Secure and exclusively in Switzerland
OPAN® guarantees the protection of your privacy through strict compliance with Swiss data protection standards. All data is stored and processed exclusively on servers in Switzerland. All our staff are employed in Switzerland and work locally.
Our software development partner cloudtec AG employs staff exclusively in Switzerland. This consistent focus on Switzerland ensures that your data enjoys the protection of local data protection laws at all times, guaranteeing maximum security and confidentiality.
OPAN®, as a data hub
The OPAN® platform transports data and mediates between referrer and provider. OPAN® does not process data, but ensures its secure transport.
Focus on quality and reliability
We know how important precise and reliable data is for you. Our systems therefore continuously check data quality. In addition, our dedicated service team ensures that our services always function smoothly and reliably. Your satisfaction and trust are our top priority.
Our infrastructure: solid and proven
At a time when technologies are constantly changing, we focus on reliability. Our technologies are tried and tested and are constantly updated. Our data residence in Switzerland.
The entire server infrastructure of the OPAN® platform is provided by the ISO 27001-certified company Metanet AG in Zurich. The infrastructure is redundant and distributed across three data centers in the Zurich area. Our cooperation with Metanet AG is limited to the provision of the physical hardware and the basic infrastructure of the data centers. We manage, maintain and operate the software and platform ourselves.
We use our own open source cloud technology and do not use commercial cloud providers such as Google, Microsoft or Amazon.
Data protection of medical information
Medical data is particularly worthy of protection due to its sensitivity. It is subject to medical confidentiality and the basic right to informational self-determination. OPAN CARE AG transports sensitive patient information such as name, address, date of birth, social security number, health insurance data, the family doctor providing treatment and other details. This also includes information on treatments and care instructions, such as the reason for hospitalization and specific care instructions. In addition, documents containing sensitive data can be transmitted.
Visibility of particularly sensitive data
Within OPAN CARE AG, access to patient data is strictly controlled and reserved exclusively for a specially authorized group of people in order to guarantee confidentiality. Access authorizations for the OPAN® platform are specifically assigned to defined employees. Employees have no direct access to patients and medical information, as the system consistently hides this information.
The OPAN® platform offers sophisticated mechanisms to prevent unnecessary access to data. Depending on the role and authorization, there is the option “Hide sensitive data”. With this option, the user can interact with the platform, but does not have access to patient data or transmitted documents.
As the referrer, you can see the transmitted data. Providers, and therefore recipients of registrations, messages and documents, see the transmitted data. We offer referring physicians and providers the option of hiding sensitive data so that only those people who need to see the data in order to process the request actually see it.
Technical mechanisms for anonymization
Access to sensitive data and the database within OPAN® is strictly regulated. Our software developers do not have direct access to the production database, but instead use anonymized versions. These are automatically anonymized and made available with the help of anonymization software. This ensures that if the database needs to be used for debugging purposes, only anonymized data is used. Our developers usually work with test data and fixtures, which does not require direct access to the database or the systems. As an additional security measure, we have ensured that developers do not have direct remote access to the productive systems.
Data protection through anonymization
To further strengthen data protection, registrations, messages and all other data records that contain particularly sensitive information and are older than 12 months are automatically anonymized. This procedure includes the removal of all personal characteristics and documents with patient data that could enable identification.
OPAN® sees itself primarily as a mediation platform and emphasizes that it does not process or store any personal data unnecessarily. The responsibility for persisting and archiving the exchanged data lies with the respective senders and recipients (referring physicians and providers). The combination of anonymization after 12 months and data backup, which is retained for one month, means that patient data is stored in the OPAN® platform system for a maximum of 13 months.
Data transmission by e-mail
All messages sent by e-mail are completely anonymized. No confidential data is sent by e-mail.
Helper Container & Micro Services
The OPAN® platform uses various microservices, all of which are hosted in Switzerland. We do not use external services, but only those over which we have full control. The following list is not exhaustive.
Logging
The access logs are automatically deleted after 7 days. Logs that may contain sensitive data are always encrypted and remain locally in our infrastructure.