Privacy impact assessment in the design of transnational public health information systems: the BIRO project.

Objectives: To foster the development of a privacy-protective, sustainable cross-border information system in the framework of a European public health project.

Materials And Methods: A targeted privacy impact assessment was implemented to identify the best architecture for a European information system for diabetes directly tapping into clinical registries. Four steps were used to provide input to software designers and developers: a structured literature search, analysis of data flow scenarios or options, creation of an ad hoc questionnaire and conduction of a Delphi procedure.