The protection of patients personal data in healthcare entities : the role of institutions

The aim of the paper is to present the essence and impact of formal institutions on the efficiency of economic activity in the light of new institutional economics. Also, to identify the impact of the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in the area of personal data protection on the efficiency of managing sensitive data in healthcare entities. Healthcare entities process personal data of particular importance, namely data regarding patients' health. The development of information technologies stimulates the emergence of new information channels, but at the same time, it raises a number of threats of misusing this information that has not been known so far. The new Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union of April 27, 2016, seeks to increase the safety of sensitive information concerning patients. In the paper, the impact of this regulation and some related laws on managing patients' data were analyzed. Moreover, the positive outcomes and some limitations of these institutional solutions were identified. The analysis and diagnosis of the impact of these formal institutions follow the assumptions of new institutional economics (NIE), with a special emphasis on the impact of the analyzed regulation on the level of transaction costs. The paper was based on the literature on the subject of NIE and personal data processing and protection.