Healthcare IT News - August 2007 - (Page 23)

www.HealthcareITNews.com August 2007 ■ Healthcare IT News 23 A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E H E A LT H C A R E I N F O R M AT I O N A N D M A N A G E M E N T S Y S T E M S S O C I E T Y ■ VOLUME 8 ■ NUMBER 3 HIMSS releases definition, HIMSS and GSA release position statement for PHRs e-Authentication White Paper P HRS, OR PERSONAL have great potential for consumers to proactively manage their own healthcare. To enable the goals of reducing medical errors, improving quality of care and improving the validity of information Holly Miller, MD available to care providers, PHRs function to consolidate an individual's medical information in one place. Recognizing the potential benefits of PHRs, the HIMSS Personal Health Record Steering Committee, under the leadership of Chair Holly Miller, MD, MBA, has developed a HIMSS-sponsored PHR definition and position statement to promote the adoption of PHRs. In doing so, HIMSS has taken an active role to facilitate interest in and discussion around this important topic. PHRs historically have been maintained by individuals in paper form or in unstructured documents on personal computers. More recently, structured electronic PHRs (ePHRs) have become available in a variety of formats, and many are Internet-linked with data entered and maintained by the individual or “tethered/connected” to a single specific healthcare, insurance or other organization that maintains an individual's health records. Some tethered/connected ePHRs are HEALTH RECORDS, hybrids, allowing some information to be entered by the individual. Finally, there is an evolution toward interoperable Internet ePHRs that cull all health information relative to the individual who is also responsible for its ownership and management. HIMSS defines an ePHR as follows: H IMSS AND THE GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION An electronic Personal Health Record (“ePHR”) is a universally accessible, layperson comprehensible, lifelong tool for managing relevant health information, promoting health maintenance and assisting with chronic disease management via an interactive, common data set of electronic health information and e-health tools. The ePHR is owned, managed, and shared by the individual or their legal proxy(s) and must be secure to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the health information it contains. It is not a legal record, unless so defined, and is subject to various legal limitations. The HIMSS PHR definition and position statement defines an interoperable ePHR, recognizing that this is not the current state of ePHRs but is an appropriate direction for development. It contains guiding principles for ePHR development and is the work of the HIMSS Personal Health Record Steering Committee and its work groups: Defining the ePHR Work Group and the National ePHR PHRs [continued on page 25] of the federal government recently released a white paper outlining the outcomes of a pilot project conducted to demonstrate the adoption of the GSA's e-Authentication secure and interoperable technical architecture for sharing medical information among multiple providers in health information exchange settings. The white paper, available at www.himss.org/eauthentication, includes value propositions and a business case for extending the GSA's e-Authentication method to the healthcare sector. Utilizing the GSA's e-Authentication Service Component program to provide digital certificates, technical architecture development support and certificate validation services, the pilot showed numerous Health Information Exchanges (HIE) and Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO) can use a common authentication system to enable secure and appropriate access to personal health information. Six RHIOs/HIEs participated in the project: eHealthConnecticut; Michigan Data Sharing & Transaction Infrastr ucture Project; Community Health Infor mation Collaborative, Minnesota; eHealth Ohio-OSC Bioinformatics; Virtual Medical Network, Ohio and Christus Health, health eCities Project, Texas. Through this pilot project, these RHIOs/HIEs tested the GSA's electronic government services infrastructure to better define secure exchange of patient health information. The pilot project's outcomes outlined in the white paper include: • Multiple RHIOs can agree and implement a common framework for the policies, procedures and standards for federated identity authentication across multiple use cases. • The federal e-Authentication infrastructure is relevant and applicable to use-cases for RHIOs in diverse operational environments. • For RHIOs, local registration authorities and local enrollment are viable for large-scale deployments to provide for strong authentication using federal eAuthentication components. • Hardware tokens (i.e., smart cards, flash drives) are viable for RHIO deployment of Level 4 authentication assurance. • The service was usable, tested and implemented regardless of the RHIO or HIE use-case realization. • The GSA's risk-assessment process for identification of the sensitivity level eAUTHENTICATION [continued on page 24] HIT Adoption in the Long-Term Care Market Summary: The majority of respondents to this month's Vantage Point, who work for a provider organization that offers long-term care services, indicated that some type of software is in place. Compared to the use of clinical software, respondents were slightly more likely to report that financial software is in place. HIMSS08 Web site now available T HE 2008 ANNUAL & HIMSS CONFERENCE EXHIBITION Uses Clinical Software Uses Financial Software No Software No LTC Facilities Associated with Our Organization Not a Care Provider Organization Don’t Know 28% 30% 4% 22% 27% 11% For more information, visit www.himss.org/vantagepoint. Orlando/Orange County Convention Center PHOTO COURTESY OF ORLANDO/ORANGE COUNTY CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU Use of Technology in Long-Term Care Facilities official Web site is now available at www.himssconference.org. HIMSS08, Feb. 24-28 in Orlando, offers the latest industry intelligence and solutions through exhibits, education and networking with more than 20,000 HIT professionals. The conference Web site features up-to-the-minute HIMSS08 details including an agenda of education offerings, an exhibit floor plan and exhibitor list and descriptions of networking events. With updates made after this past Annual Conference, the HIMSS08 Web site features improved searching capabilities. Attendees can more easily find sessions, categorized by professional interest, to plan their conference week. Exhibitors can also take advantage of these capabilities through an enhanced system for accessing logistics information and sponsorship and marketing opportunities. Also featured on the Web site is registration, air travel and hotel information. Hotels are expected to fill up quickly, so attendees are encouraged to make hotel HIMSS08 [continued on page 24] http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.himss.org/eauthentication http://www.himssconference.org http://www.himss.org/vantagepoint

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - August 2007

Contents AHIC Redux IT Saving Lives IT, Wal-Mart Style OR Workflow Counting on Quality PHR Position Tapping Talent Slimming Down E-Prescribing Claims Processing

Healthcare IT News - August 2007

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