New Image Sharing Program Keeps PHI Safe

As technology continues to develop, patients are gaining greater control in how they receive medical care and how their protected health information (PHI) is transferred. Everything from patient portals to secure messaging systems are changing the way that patients can communicate with doctors.

While this is helping the healthcare industry gain technological ground, it is also important that PHI remains secure. That issue was one of several priorities the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) had in mind as it developed its Image Share Network. The new system lets patients store, manage and share their imaging records online through personal health record accounts.

HealthITSecurity.com discussed the imaging system with Giampaolo Greco, Ph.D., M.P.H. Greco is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health Science and Policy at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and was the lead author in a study exploring the benefits of the imaging system.

According to Greco, the RSNA network empowers patients by giving them access to their own medical images.

“Medical images are a very important driver for medical decisions and the way we share them has a great impact on quality of care and cost,” Greco said. “Right now images are shared mostly through CDs and we’re trying to connect non-affiliated providers.”

Greco added that there are limitations on the uses of CDs, including if they become lost, are damaged, or just in an unreadable format, it can become difficult to share information and improve interoperability between facilities. Moreover, when patients have their medical records across multiple providers – and thus, multiple CDs – their medical history becomes fragmented, Greco explained.

“By looking at this first year of implementation of the shared network, we found that a patient-controlled internet-based image sharing system is feasible,” he said. “It meets patient expectation in terms of timeliness and privacy, and it surpasses their expectation in terms of ease of access.”

The study took place from July 2012 to August 2013, interviewing approximately 2,500 patients. Individuals undergoing radiologic exams in certain facilities could create online accounts using the RSNA Image Share network. From there, patients could use those accounts to maintain and share their images with selected providers.

The system uses a two-factor security system: a code and password. Greco explained that there was not a significant difference when patients were asked to compare how they felt about their PHI security on a CD or on the network.

Age was also not a barrier, which was an important takeaway to the study, according to Greco. Sometimes there is the expectation that older individuals have more of a bias with new technology, but Greco said that the mean age for those involved was approximately 50 years old.

Overall, this is an important step for the healthcare industry, Greco said. Specifically, the way that the healthcare industry shares images affects the quality of patient care, their health outcomes, as well as cost to providers. For example, when there is a lack of interoperability, patients might have to undergo repeated tests, which will not benefit anyone involved in their care process.

“Now that patients are increasingly engaged in their own treatment, [this network] empowers them to make the right choice when they have to,” Greco said, adding that the shared network is also a better vehicle of information.

“Of course there is a lot more work to do,” he stated, “about the fact that we need to explore the impact of this IT solution with respect to quality of care and utilization.”