Pseudonymization in medical research - the generic data protection concept of the TMF

Using patient data in medical research nets is in conflict with the patients rights on privacy, in particular when data are collected from several sources and stored in long-term registries. The TMF (Telematics Platform for Medical Research Networks) developed a "generic" data protection concept that specifies two models for building research data pools. The german data Protection Commissioners agreed with this concept which in the meantime is the basis for concretisations in several research networks.