Government Technology - February 2008 - (Page 37)

Adarmes said he believes paper files are more secure than digital health records. “If somebody wants to get a document, they have to come into my file room and pull the chart,” he said. “Computer systems in doctors’ offices are already targeted to steal identities.” Adarmes also is concerned about who owns the data. Is it the patient’s? The doctor’s? Maybe it rightfully belongs to the insurance provider. His point is that there are currently too many unknowns to comfortably move to an EHR system. Most who are observing the issue agree EHRs and PHRs have potential to do good. The industry’s readiness seems to be the central point of debate. Boynton’s thoughts on electronic medical data probably go a long way toward summing up the feelings of both advocates and opponents. “The possibilities, I think, are endless,” she said “And as a result, so is the obligation to ensure that the information is well protected.” Dorsett said he thinks the industry will move toward implementing PHRs instead “ IF YOU THINK ABOUT GOVERNMENTSPONSORED HEALTH CARE,YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT THE CHALLENGES AROUND DATA FRAGMENTATION ARE EVEN MORE ACUTE. Nate McLemore, director of business development, Microsoft Health Solutions Group ” of EHRs because of an overall trend of consumer empowerment in the United States. “PHRs focus on the patient having the ability to store their personal health information. They have absolute control over it; they decide who looks at it. I think there is a general movement toward consumerdriven health care. It’s about empowering the patient to have control over his or her information. Right now, it’s squarely in the hands of the physician.” Dorsett also cites problems that have cropped up in recent attempts to implement large-scale EHR systems. Kaiser Permanente and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center tried to deploy internal EHR systems. Both systems were met with high costs, user dissatisfaction, errors and technical problems. Consequently Dorsett thinks PHRs will be the preferred technology in the near future if only because they are so much simpler. “The technology is very expensive still,” he said. “There are so many systems on the market and so many horror stories of wasted expense on trying to get up and running on EHRs, so you have a cautious market out there. The other issue is these systems, by and large, don’t communicate with one another. There’s apprehension in the marketplace. With PHRs, it’s much easier because physicians aren’t asked to adopt a PHR. Patients are.” j B A D M E D I C I N E C O N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 29 Ryan went to local law enforcement, but like most local agencies, they weren’t familiar with medical identity theft. That fact, and the nature of the crime, makes it difficult to police. “Sometimes you can identify somebody who had access to the medical data, then trace that medical data in terms of how it was falsely billed, and that will lead you to the subject,” Ormsby said. “In other cases, such as hacking cases, those are more difficult because it’s more of a cyber-crime.” She said many of the cases are complex and require the expertise of a variety of agencies to solve. IN OTHER CASES, SUCH AS HACKING CASES,THOSE ARE MORE DIFFICULT BECAUSE IT’S MORE OF A CYBER-CRIME. Sharon Ormsby, section chief for financial crimes, FBI ” Fighting Back The best way to police medical identity theft is to prevent it, Ormsby said. Local law enforcement can begin by performing community outreach programs that educate their municipalities. Local police should also share identity theft information with state and federal authorities and make referrals to the appropriate state and federal agencies when they learn of a medical identity theft complaint. Lastly they can participate in federal and state working groups that deal with health-care fraud. Individuals should peruse EOB statements from their health insurers to spot unusual charges. “We’ve established some programs and initiatives where we’re trying to get our licensees to entertain the idea of educating their subscribers on a quick and regular basis,” Sneed said. “Explain to them that they are our first line of defense with respect to health-care fraud. That means looking at your explanation of benefits form when it comes in.” Another aspect of prevention is better security for electronic health records, which are beginning to really take hold, Sneed said. “Facilities, associations and insurers have to keep that as an aspect they have to be aware of as they create their electronic health records, practices and procedures, and account for the idea that this is going to open up databases of information that may be vulnerable. There has to be a risk assessment.” The WPF advocates a National Health Information Network that would be established using comprehensive risk assessments that prevent medical identity theft while protecting privacy, and more mechanisms for individuals to correct errors in their medical histories, as well as notification of medical data breaches to consumers. The prospect for a continuing trend in medical identity theft is good as health-care record-keeping becomes increasingly automated and because it is so difficult to detect, according to Dixon. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better because it’s really tough to fix.” 37 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - February 2008

Government Technology - February 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Screen Products Four Questions for... CSI Effect Bad Medicine Making Health Care Personal Cashing In GIS for Less Nabbing Speedsters First Person: Records Management Chatter Box Oregon Data Centers Go Green Products Two Cents Spectrum Up Close Personal Computing signal:noise Government Solutions - Spring 2008 Power Play Double Duty Cleaning House Twice Prepared Smart Move The Path to Success Foundation for Service

Government Technology - February 2008

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