Patient-centric control over data is key to trust in EHRs, but managing consent is not that simple

Another interesting briefing coming out of the ONC Health IT Policy Committee meeting this week was a presentation from Privacy and Security Workgroup chair Deven McGraw, which highlighted the workgroup’s current focus on privacy protections in…

Accountability and enforcement, not just policy, needed to produce trust framework for health information exchange

At yesterday’s monthly meeting of the Health IT Policy Committee, a briefing provided by the leads of the Committee’s NHIN Workgroup described the need for a health information exchange (HIE) trust framework and spelled out five…

Sharing data in EHR systems without consumer preferences may lead to information withholding

An unintended, if not wholly unexpected, consequence of the health care industry’s heavily incentivized move towards use of electronic health records and sharing data contained in those records appears to be a greater likelihood that individuals…

Mistakes in UK NHS organ donor consent data show importance of validating data from outside sources

As reported in the Daily Telegraph, the British National Health Service (NHS) is blaming an IT error for the presence of inaccurate consent information for about 800,000 people about their wishes for organ donation after death….

Virginia enacts limited-scope medical information breach notification law

Last month, the Virginia General Assembly passed a new law, to take effect on January 1, 2011, that will implement new disclosure notification rules for breaches of medical information about Virginia residents. The new law appears…

Public-private sector debate on health IT turns to whose security is weakest

Security concerns remain a major sticking point on electronic health records, health IT in general, and greater levels of health information exchange and interoperability among potential public and private sector participants in those exchanges. An article…

Conspiracy theories alive and well on government’s role in health IT

In an otherwise unremarkable meeting of the Health IT Standards Committee on March 24, Dr. David Blumenthal, HHS’ National Coordinator for health IT, made public statements addressing and formally denying rumors that the Office of the…