Patient Privacy, Consent, and Identity Management in Health Information Exchange: Issues for the Military Health System
Abstract
The Military Health System (MHS) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) have been among the nation s leaders in health information technology (IT), including the development of health IT systems and electronic health records (EHRs) that summarize patients care from multiple providers. Health IT interoperability within MHS and across MHS partners, including VHA, is one of ten goals in the current MHS Strategic Plan; the ability to exchange health information between military and nonmilitary health care providers is especially important in light of the role played by civilian providers in MHS s TRICARE program, which provides care to 9.7 million beneficiaries. The MHS has taken several steps toward achieving improved interoperability, including collaborating with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop an integrated EHR, a virtual lifetime electronic record (VLER), and Joint Federal Health Care Centers. The MHS is also seeking to develop a research roadmap to better coordinate health IT research efforts, address MHS IT capability gaps, and reduce programmatic risk for enterprise projects in the MHS. This report contributes to that effort by identifying key research and policy issues involving patient privacy, patient consent, and patient identity management as relevant to health information exchange (HIE) in the Department of Defense (DoD). Our study used a multimethod approach consisting of a review of policy regarding privacy, patient consent, and patient identity management; a literature review on these topics as relevant to the MHS; and semistructured telephone interviews with 31 subject-matter experts. We use a sociotechnical framework to organize our findings and to suggest topics for future research.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA580453
Entities
People
- Susan D. Hosek
- Susan G. Straus
Organizations
- RAND Corporation