Healthcare IT News - September 2007 - (Page 32)

32 Healthcare IT News ■ September 2007 www.HealthcareITNews.com Privacy and the Future of Interoperable HIT ugust is the month the Washington estab- pin widespread electronic exchange of PHI. lishment leaves town—the dog days of HIPAA is as good a privacy policy as providers, summer. This August, Congress and the Bush payors and those that sell HIT products will administration have left us with a great deal to ever see. While PHI may not be used or disponder: the politics and economclosed for unauthorized purposics of healthcare in an increasingused without STANDARDS es, it may be for treatment, ly polarized environment and the patient consent challenge of privacy as outlined operations and payment. That is in the just released Assessment of about as simple and unrestrictive Variation and Analysis of as it gets. Unfortunately, these Solutions (AVAS) from the terms were misunderstood by by Ed Larsen Health Information Security and many and did not pre-empt state Privacy Consortium (HISPC). We believe rules that were more restrictive, thus ensuring these are intertwined to shape the future of confusion and variation would follow. interoperable health information technology. The emergence of personal health records The just released final report from HISPC and interoperable health information found there was much HIPAA-generated con- exchanges, with many potential uses and fusion and variation in privacy practices when members, has given rise to consumer/patient overlaid with different state laws and regula- concerns about privacy. The nationwide tions. Findings included confusion over health information network and its HIEs have patient consent and authorization, over mini- become the point of contention. On the one mum necessary, over trust methods for trans- hand, we, “the consumers,” are concerned ferring medical records and information about the privacy and confidentiality of our between covered providers and over what secu- personal health information. On the other rity measures are possible and consistent with hand, we have existing business practices and good practice. To the extent there was consen- HIPAA rules that, as indicated, facilitate sus, the consortium showed that no interoper- exchange of protected health information for able nationwide network was possible and enumerated purposes. Moreover, we have called for new national privacy standards, more never resolved the issue of ownership of an clarity and, perhaps, an oversight body. individual’s health information. By practice HIPAA, of course, is our national privacy and use, medical records are the business policy for protected health information (PHI). records of providers and claims and billing However, it is becoming clear the privacy pro- data are the business records of plans and payvisions of HIPAA are not sufficient to under- ors. While there is acknowledgment individu- INSIGHT als have certain rights to their information, including some ability to control its movement, these rights are unclear, even more so in the context of electronic records and exchange. Any new privacy policy changes are thus likely to move in the direction of consumers’ rights, rather than in favor of the HIPAA-covered entities. And so if privacy policy is a key challenge to widespread implementation of interoperable EHRs and HIEs, then all roads lead to the next administration and Congress. Privacy policy and the “national oversight” called for in AVAS will require congressional action, presumably aligned with the next administration’s view of 21st century healthcare. Given we, the people, are divided on both privacy and healthcare policy, we can only hope the next election brings sufficient consensus for coherent Washington actions. If the new administration and Congress do not move forward, then HIPAA will remain the national privacy policy and protected health information will continue to flow among the covered entities within proprietary and point-topoint networking. Valuable personal and secondary use will be stifled as we and our agents keep PHI locked in silos. ■ Ed Larsen is an independent strategy consultant who tracks interoperability standards for HIMSS. For the full article, go to Standards Insight on the HIMSS Member start page. Comments or questions can be sent to erlarsen@erlinc.com. PUBLICATIONS STAFF VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS Fran Perveiler MANAGER, PUBLICATIONS Nancy Vitucci CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS MANAGERS Joyce Lofstrom Sharolyn Rosier Hyson SENIOR EDITOR Matt Schlossberg COORDINATOR, COMMUNICATIONS Cari McLean BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR John Wade, FCHIME, FHIMSS Vice President/Chief Information Officer Saint Luke’s Health System VICE CHAIR Victoria Bradley, DNP, RN, FHIMSS Director of Patient Information University of Kentucky HealthCare CHAIR ELECT Charles E. Christian, FCHIME, FHIMSS Director, Information Systems/Chief Information Officer Good Samaritan Hospital VICE CHAIR ELECT 5th Annual Public Policy Forum—“Campaign 2008: What's Next for Healthcare IT?” Tuesday, Sept. 25, National Press Club, Washington, DC At the Fifth Annual Public Policy Forum, HIMSS will join Washington’s key players on healthcare IT policy and national politics to explore how to work together to advance the best use of HIT as a means for improving the quality and affordability of healthcare. Among the forum programs will be panel discussions on analyzing the electorate in terms of healthcare and the 2008 campaign as well as an examination of current initiatives and candidate plans. Confirmed speakers include keynoter U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Gail R. Wilensky, PhD, Senior Fellow, Project HOPE. For details and to register, visit www.himss.org/advocacy. ■ Liz Johnson, FHIMSS Vice President, Applied Clinical Informatics Tenet Healthcare Corp. Margret Amatayakul, RHIA, CHPS, FHIMSS President Margaret A. Consulting, LLC Barry Chaiken, MD, FHIMSS Associate Chief Medical Officer BearingPoint Inc. Maj. John H. Daniels, FACHE, CPHIMS, CHPS, FHIMSS Chief Information Officer U.S. Air Force Academy Hospital John Hansmann, FHIMSS Regional Manager, Management Engineering Intermountain Health Care C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA, FHIMSS Chief Information Officer and Chairman Information Technology Division Executive Director eCleveland Clinic The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Joy G. Keeler, MBA Principal Health Information Technology The MITRE Corp. Jay Srini, FHIMSS Vice President, Emerging Technologies University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Jonathan M. Teich, MD, PhD, FHIMSS Chief Medical Informatics Officer Elsevier Health Sciences PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Membership to Vote on Revisions to HIMSS Bylaws H. Stephen Lieber, CAE HIMSS ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS H IMSS has changed over the past number of years—new programs, more members and a larger organization. To ensure the governance of the Society keeps pace with those changes, the Board of Directors formed a work group this past year to review Bylaws and determine if changes needed to be made. The work group thoroughly reviewed the entire set of Bylaws and concluded modifications should be made to ensure the HIMSS governance structure is designed to best lead the Society. Their findings were presented to the Board of Directors and were unanimously approved for submission to the membership in the form of a Bylaw amendment. As required by Bylaws, any amendment requires membership approval and therefore will be sent to all HIMSS members next month as part of the Board and Nominating Committee election ballot. Directors from 13 to 15. This recommendation was made in light of the recognition of the strong growth HIMSS has experienced over the past several years—now serving more than 20,000 individual members and over 300 corporate members. 2. Officers of the Board to serve a four-year term. Currently, all elected Board members serve a three-year term, inclusive of their role as officer. The work group recognized service as a HIMSS Officer is a significant responsibility that requires much advance preparation and education. As such, the Board agreed it would benefit the Society if officers served a fourth year. 3. If the vice-chair position becomes vacant, the chair-elect will fill that position. Highlights of the Board-recommended Bylaw amendment include: 1. Increasing the size of the elected members of the Board of The current Bylaws call for a secret ballot of the Board to select a third-year Board member to fill such a vacancy. The Board believes the Society would be best served if the chair-elect could fill such a vacancy. 4. Second-year directors will be eligible to run for an officer position. Pursuant to item #2, service as a HIMSS Officer is significant. Allowing directors a full year of service on the Board prior to running for an officer position enables them to make better informed decisions about their readiness and ability to serve as an officer. 5. External tabulation of director and officer elections. The recommended change to the Bylaws clarifies the firm engaged to perform said tabulation is neither employed by, nor a member of, HIMSS— and, the firm’s primary business is conducting elections. 6. Election of officers. Currently, the chair-elect and the vice-chairelect are elected in a single election by their peers. The recommended change would separate these elections into two, thereby simplifying and clarifying the election process. 7. Filling vacancies on the Executive Committee. The existing Bylaws are silent on this topic and the recommended change identifies guidelines for the chair of the board to fill any vacancy that may occur. The Board Work Group consisted of Simon Cohn, MD, PhD; Chuck Christian, FHIMSS, CHIME; Ray Gensinger, MD, FHIMSS; Liz Johnson, RN, FHIMSS; June Lowe, FHIMSS; and John Lumpkin, MD, PhD. The work group was chaired by former Vice-Chair-Elect Victoria Bradley, DNP, RN, FHIMSS. ■ A. John Blair, III, MD President and CEO Taconic (NY) IPA Steve Fox Partner Pepper Hami http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.himss.org/advocacy

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

Contents Alaska Sweep SiCKO Debate Data Exchange Rx EDITH knows Hold That Script IT in the Sun Breathing Easy IT on the Menu Ambulatory EMRs Identity Crisis

Healthcare IT News - September 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.