The next phase of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Data Segmentation for Privacy (DS4P) initiative was completed this week when the project’s pilots demonstrated patient control over release of Protected Health Information (PHI) during EHR exchange.
DS4P was formed to create standards for patient data disclosure and authorization. The Health Information Technology (Health IT) Program at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), Jericho Systems Corporation, and Conemaugh Health System were all pilot program participants. The pilot tested 13 electronic exchange scenarios and eight types of data transactions, with the participants taking on different roles in different scenarios using eHealth Exchange (formerly Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) Exchange) specifications. And a centralized repository stores the patient’s consent directive (PCD) and enables privacy controls for patients.
“Participation in a national pilot program exemplifies the type of learning experiences that are invaluable for our students,” said Dr. Leanne Field, director of UT Austin’s Health IT program. “Conducting applied research in collaborative environments, such as demonstrating patient control over shared health care information, provides our graduates with experience and skills that set them apart in the competitive health IT industry.”
For example, Jericho Systems served as primary custodian of the patient’s record and provided access to the Patient Consent Directive (PCD) repository. The University of Texas at Austin HIT Program acted as a research university and a secondary custodian of the information. Conemaugh played the role of a marketing network that becomes the second requestor.
“The successful completion of our interoperability test is the result of six months of hard work by many volunteers who joined weekly DS4P meetings,” said David Staggs, CTO of Jericho Systems. “We have demonstrated how externalized patient consent directives can be automatically fetched and applied as the document custodian decides whether to release a requested record. Patients can review the decisions electronically, providing transparency in the document release process and confidence that records are being released appropriately.”