Glossary, regulation and privacy
What is data residency for patient records?
Data residency is the country or region where an organisation's data is physically stored and processed. For a clinic, it decides which country's law governs its patient records and whether they can move across a border.
Updated . Defined by the wai team for clinics, groups and health systems.
Also called data localisation or data sovereignty.
Why Data residency matters to a clinic
Some markets require patient data to stay inside the country, and many health systems write residency into their contracts even where the law does not demand it. A record held in the wrong place can stop a clinic from being licensed or paid.
Residency is also a buying question. A group with clinics in several countries needs each clinic's records hosted under that country's rules, and a vendor's answer should name the country, the provider and who can reach the data from elsewhere.
Questions
Is data residency the same as data sovereignty?
They overlap, since residency is where the data sits and sovereignty is which country's law governs it. The law usually goes with the location.
Where does a group with several countries keep its records?
Each clinic's records in its own country. wai sets this up per clinic before go-live. See security.
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