Health 2.0 and Identity: Who else cares who I am, as long as I do?

“My recent blog on Health2.0 data exchange using the CCR standard and a sparse information model brought this comment from a reader who identifies themselves as jd:
“I’d really like to hear your insights on the issue of uniquely identifying patients. Whether we have a sparse information model or a more complete/complex one, none of this is going to work unless there is an automated way for data from multiple systems to converge into one record. There is now an NPI for physicians, but what about patients? It seems something like a social security number is out of the question, so what are we going to do in it’s absence?”
Article
David Kibbe, Health 2.0, 12 November 2008

Rand study touts benefits of unique patient identification system

“A Rand Corporation study finds that the use of unique patient identification numbers would help improve healthcare quality and efficiency.
The creation of such an identification system has a price tag of about $11 billion, but researchers believe it would return even more in benefits to the nation’s healthcare system.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 21 October 2008

Identity-management factors in e-health and telemedicine applications

“Reliable identification is essential in e-health and telemedicine applications. This necessitates a secure and trustworthy method of communication and collaboration between parties, which depends on common acceptance. This in turn is related to privacy and ethical matters. Different technologies, including biometrics and RFID, allow high levels of security and safety in identifying both human beings and goods. However, the diffusion of standards relating to identity management in e-health is far from satisfactory. In order to support standardization in e-health, the European Commission funded the BioHealth project. This project has proved to be useful in promoting standards and creating awareness among the stakeholders.”
Abstract
Mario Savastano, Asbjorn Hovsto, Peter Pharow and Bernd Blobel, J Telemed Telecare 2008;14:386-388, doi:10.1258/jtt.2008.007014

NHS Number Safer Practice Notice issued

“The National Patient Safety Agency has urged all NHS organisations in England and Wales to use the NHS Number as a national, unique patient identifier to reduce errors caused by local numbering systems.”
Article
e-Health Insider, 22 september 2008

Device Identification, Synchronization Can Boost Patient Safety

“When peanut butter contaminated with salmonella was recalled last year, it was quickly and efficiently removed from grocery store shelves. Health care providers and suppliers, however, can’t reliably identify potentially life-threatening recalled or defective devices. Unlike virtually every other product in commerce, medical supplies and devices cannot be identified in a systematic and consistent manner.”
Article
Joseph Pleasant, HHNMostWired, 23 July 2008

Microsoft Selects VeriSign to Provide Secure Log-In for Microsoft HealthVault Users

“VeriSign, Inc., the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, today announced that it has been selected by Microsoft® as an OpenID provider for users of HealthVault(TM), a free service that enables consumers to store and manage their health information online. HealthVault’s acceptance of VeriSign OpenIDs will begin later this week.”
Article
CNN Money.com, 25 June 2008

Quotes from ICMCC Presentations

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Supporting Quality with Information Technology

“Next week, I’m meeting with the BIDMC Board’s Patient Care Assessment and Quality Committee (PCAC) to discuss the 2009 tactics for improving quality with information technology. The overall presentation includes 2008 accomplishments, 2009 goals, the national context, and our general approach. I’ve chosen to communicate the specifics in the context of the Joint Commission’s 2008 Patient Safety Goals.”
Article
John Halamka, Life as a Healthcare CIO, 18 June 2008

Vraagtekens bij bescherming privacy op eHealth

Privacy worries concerning the introduction of “eHealth”, the Belgian HIE platform.

Article (Dutch)
Nieuwsblad.be

Article (French)
Alain Jennotte, Le Soir, 30 May 2008

The challenging nature of patient identifiers: an ethnographic study of patient identification at a London walk-in centre

“The correct identification of a patient’s health record is the foundation of any safe patient record system. There is no building of a `patient history’, no sharing or integration of a patient’s data without the retrieval and matching of existing records. Yet there can often be errors in this process and these may remain invisible until a safety incident occurs. This article presents the findings of an ethnographic study of patient identification at a walk-in centre in the UK. We offer a view of patient identifiers as used in practice and show how seemingly simple data, such as a person’s name or date of birth, are more complex than they may at first appear and how they potentially pose problems for the use of integrated health records. We further report and discuss a dichotomy between the identifiers needed to access health records and the identifiers used by practitioners in their everyday work.”
Abstract
Valentina Lichtner, Stephanie Wilson, and Julia R. Galliers, Health Informatics Journal, Vol. 14, No. 2, 141-150 (2008), DOI: 10.1177/1081180X08089321

Commission says e-health must grow up

“The deputy head of European Commission’s ICT for Health unit today called for everyone involved in developing e-health to seize advantage of the current window of opportunity to move from pilots to large-scale implementation.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 7 May 2008

New Standard to Aid ID Processes

“The American National Standards Institute has approved the first part of new data standards to assist in positively identifying patients, drugs, devices and other processes in care delivery using bar code, radio frequency identification and two-dimensional symbol technologies.”
Article
Health Data Management, 23 April 2008

CDT launches new project to tackle PHR privacy issues

“The Center for Democracy & Technology has launched a project on health privacy and information technology in collaboration with the Health Privacy Project.
CDT’s Health Privacy Project will take on key policy questions, including the proper role of notice and consent, the right of patients to access their own health records in electronic formats, identification and authentication, secondary uses and enforcement mechanisms.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 11 March 2008

SSHA marks its past by looking forward

“Ontario’s Smart System for Health Agency marked its five-year anniversary this week by laying out its blueprint for the future. The strategic plan, among other things, presents strategies aimed at fostering the growth of electronic communication between practitioners, enabling increased use of electronic patient health records, and helping to avert any future pandemic outbreaks.”
Article
Greg Enright, InterGovWorld.com, 6 March 2008

Solving identity crisis could spur PHR adoption, report concludes

“A new report by Connecting for Health, a public-private collaborative operated by the Markle Foundation, recommends widespread adoption of several common practices for validating identities of online consumers, which in turn would help stimulate the growth of personal health records.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 25 January 2008