NEW REPORT SAYS INTEROPERABLE IDENTITY MANAGEMENT IS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS OF HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE
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December 17, 2007 |
NEW REPORT SAYS INTEROPERABLE IDENTITY MANAGEMENT IS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS OF HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE
Ft. Lee, N.J. (December 17, 2007) Managing the identities of providers working with confidential healthcare information is essential to the success of the growing community of state and regional leaders managing health information exchange (HIE), according to a just published in-depth research paper focusing on identity management strategies for electronic healthcare.
The 54-page paper, which examines methods available to facilitate interoperability of identity management within and across communities in the U.S., highlights options for leaders engaged in HIE to manage provider identities and to control system authentication and authorization when dealing with confidential health information. Options covered in the report range from simple identity management systems to tightly controlled personal identity verification schema.
The paper, Interoperable Digital Identity Management in the Electronic Exchange of Health Information: An Expert Panel Report, is the product of months of research, interviews and input from informatics experts and multiple state and community leaders engaged in health information exchange. The panel also included experts from pharmaceutical, defense and financial services who have implemented digital identity management solutions in their own industries.
The panel and the report resulted from collaboration between SAFE-BioPharma Association and the eHealth Initiative, two non-profits committed to improving healthcare through the use of information technology.
Interoperability for the expanding national network of health information exchanges will require adherence to a common set of policies for managing identity and access to confidential health information, said Mollie Shields-Uehling, president and CEO, SAFE-BioPharma Association. With that in place, HIE initiatives will be able to reach their shared goal of a nationwide health information network.
Establishing well-authenticated digital identities is fundamental to the secure and seamless exchange of sensitive patient information from one provider to another, said Janet Marchibroda, CEO of the eHealth Initiative. This report offers practical, easy to understand guidance for national, state and local leaders trying to effectively navigate privacy and security issues when sharing electronic information to support improvements in health and healthcare.
Findings in the report include the following:
- Health information exchange can significantly improve the quality of healthcare, and therefore the health, of the American populace, but to be successful it requires the application of consistent standards and policies related to digital identity management;
- Technology continues to evolve, both in identity management and data systems interoperability. As these technologies evolve, health information exchange initiatives will have to maintain awareness of this evolution and take advantage of these advances.
- Digital identities that are tightly bound to the individual provider offer significant benefits, especially in terms of trust assurance and security, in processes involving authentication to systems outside of a users parent organization;
- The development of a network of trust, predicated on strong identity management, is critical to effectively moving HIE forward;
- There are existing industry models for the development of networks of trust that can meet HIE needs.
The panel convened twice in September, 2007 and on October 11, 2007 as part of the eHealth Initiative Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. The paper is available at: http://toolkit.ehealthinitiative.org/ or www.safe-biopharma.org.
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About SAFE-BioPharma Association
SAFE-BioPharma Association is the non-profit association that created and manages the SAFE digital identity and digital signature standard for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Through the SAFE standard, the association promotes interoperability and integration among researchers, vendors, regulators, clinicians and other pharmaceutical and healthcare stakeholders. The SAFE standard provides a secure, enforceable, and regulatory compliant way to verify the identities of parties involved in business-to-business and business-to-regulator electronic transactions. SAFE stands for Signatures and Authentication For Everyone. The Association's members include Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genzyme, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis. For more information visit www.safe-biopharma.org.
SAFE is a trademark of SAFE-BioPharma Association. Any use of this trademark requires approval from SAFE-BioPharma Association.
About eHealth Initiative and its Foundation
The eHealth Initiative and its Foundation are independent, non-profit affiliated organizations whose missions are the same: to drive improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology.
eHI engages multiple stakeholders, including clinicians, consumer and patient groups, employers, health plans, health IT suppliers, hospitals and other providers, laboratories, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, pharmacies, public health, public sector agencies, and its growing coalition of more than 200 state, regional and community-based collaboratives, to reach agreement on and drive the adoption of common principles, policies and best practices for improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of healthcare through information and information technology. For more information, go to www.ehealthinitiative.org.
