Healthcare

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What Does Patient Engagement Really Mean? 600 237 Team DataMotion

What Does Patient Engagement Really Mean?

We often hear terms such as patient engagement and they become the latest “term du jour”.  But what does that really mean and what is your organization doing to help promote such activity?  Is patient engagement a part of your organization’s strategy to maintain customer loyalty and grow your business?

Patient engagement is much more than just offering a portal or app that your patients can use to schedule appointments or see their latest EOBs.  Patient engagement is more about a philosophy – a way that your organization will interact with your patients or members.  This interaction needs to be bi-directional.  Providing your patients with access to their health information may also be a part of this strategy.  However, patient access to their data is not enough.  What is critical is the need to help patients by engaging them and making sure they understand what their data is “telling” them.

The idea is to provide patients with the necessary information, guiding them and ensuring they are engaged with their own care, and making the right choices. This will lead to better outcomes and ultimately to a lower cost of care.  This level of engagement requires that providers are active participants.  By gaining a holistic view of the patient, then you, the provider, will become an active partner in the patient’s care.  The need to run duplicative tests can be avoided. The ability to remind patients if they miss a prescription refill will help in establishing your organization as a trusted partner in the patient’s care.  Some patients will obviously be more active participants than others, but if you are able to provide them with things like educational resources or support groups – this can also lead to a richer experience for the patient. The result – they will view your organization as their trusted source for their health needs.

Patient engagement requires patient data

In our “information everywhere” world, patients can be easily overwhelmed with data.  In today’s technology invasive environment, with wearables and the many health apps that are designed to help us, how do we make sense of it all?  The need to pull together the many sources of data available to us as providers or as patients is leading to the advent of yet another enabling technology – the personal health record.  The idea of a personal health record is not necessarily new, but we now see various technology companies, foundations, pharmaceutical companies as well as payers contributing to the personal health record, making it easier for the patient to truly be at the center of their care.  These technologies are more user friendly to the patient and the provider.  These applications make it easier to both collect and transmit personal health records, which when fully aggregated, can lead to greater insights for care management. They should also be particularly useful to everyone concerned with chronic disease management.

The bottom-line?

As a member of the health care ecosystem, the question you now need to ask is how will I engage and bring further value to my patient? What technologies can I enable for my patients to make true patient engagement a reality for my patients?

We believe that as this push for greater visibility and data access grows, DataMotion is well positioned to be the conduit for much of this communication flow.

How did one organization use DataMotion Direct Secure Messaging to improve care coordination, provider satisfaction, and CMS quality metrics?

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DataMotion™ Achieves Full DirectTrust™ HISP Re-Accreditation 600 237 Team DataMotion

DataMotion™ Achieves Full DirectTrust™ HISP Re-Accreditation

Accreditation ensures compliance with DirectTrust HISP Policy requirements and interoperability with conforming HISPs

WASHINGTON, DC and Florham Park, NJ, January 20, 2020 – DataMotion today announced it has achieved full re-accreditation through the DirectTrust™ Accreditation Program for Health Information Service Providers (HISPs). DirectTrust is a non-profit healthcare industry alliance created to support secure, identity-verified electronic exchanges of protected health information (PHI) between provider organizations, and between providers and patients, for the purpose of improved coordination of care.

Founded in 1999, DataMotion today has millions of desktop, tablet and mobile users that leverage its mature, cloud-based secure data exchange platform and services, many for health care applications. In the fall of 2012, the company expanded operations as a HISP and introduced DataMotion Direct. The company achieved its first EHNAC HISP accreditation in 2013, and added the CA and RA accreditation in 2014. Today’s announcement signifies the DirectTrust HISP accreditation renewal, and an ongoing commitment to the increasing adoption and expansion of the Direct Secure Messaging network.

DataMotion HISP services software were audited against a series of technical, physical, and operational criteria and found to be fully in compliance with the Direct Standard™ and the requirements of the DirectTrust Security and Trust framework.

“DirectTrust HISP accreditation certifies that an organization has established and upheld a superior level of trust for its stakeholders, which is a significant distinction. Kudos to DataMotion’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards in privacy, security and confidentiality,” said DirectTrust President and CEO, Scott Stuewe.

“Renewal of our accreditation with DirectTrust demonstrates our commitment to secure, interoperable clinical health information exchange across the care continuum using Direct Secure Messaging,” said DataMotion co-founder and CEO Bob Janacek. “Leveraging our population-scale cybersecurity platform as a service (PaaS), DataMotion Direct allows mHealth apps to aggregate and analyze longitudinal data from disparate ambulatory and acute systems, reduce costs and improve clinical outcomes.”

About DirectTrust Accreditation Program for Health Information Service Providers

The DirectTrust Accreditation Program recognizes excellence in health data processing and transactions, and ensures compliance with industry-established standards, HIPAA regulations and the Direct Standard. Launched in March 2010 as a part of the Nationwide Health Information Network, the Direct Project was created to specify a simple, secure, scalable, standards-based way for participants to send authenticated, encrypted health information directly to known, trusted recipients over the Internet.  Today DirectTrust is an American National Standards Institute accredited Standards body and the custodian of the Direct Standard.

DirectTrust participating organizations are evaluated in the areas of privacy, security and confidentiality; technical performance; business practices and organizational resources as they relate to participants in the DirectTrust network and other Direct Secure Messaging participants. Additionally, their process of managing and transferring protected health information is assessed and determined to meet or exceed all DirectTrust criteria and industry standards. Successful completion of the Accreditation Program demonstrates organizations’ adherence to strict standards and participation in the comprehensive, objective evaluation of their business.

About DirectTrust

DirectTrust is a non-profit, vendor-neutral alliance initially created by and for participants in the Direct community, including Health Information Service Providers (HISPs), Certificate Authorities (CAs), Registration Authorities (RAs), doctors, consumers/patients, and vendors. DirectTrust serves as a forum for governance, and accreditation body for persons and entities engaged in exchange utilizing the Direct Standard™, supported by DirectTrust’s robust security and trust framework. The goal of DirectTrust is to develop, promote, and, as necessary, help enforce the rules and best practices necessary to maintain security and trust within the Direct Secure Messaging community. DirectTrust is committed to fostering widespread public confidence in the interoperable exchange of health information. To learn more, visit www.directtrust.org.

Media Contact:
Ed Emerman
Eagle Public Relations
609.275.5162
eemerman@eaglepr.com

About DataMotion

Since 1999, DataMotion secure data exchange technology has enabled organizations of all sizes to reduce the cost and complexity of delivering electronic information to employees, customers and partners in a secure and compliant way. Ideal for highly regulated industries, the DataMotion portfolio offers easy-to-use, CX friendly, encryption solutions for email, file transfer, forms processing and customer-initiated contact. In the healthcare sector, DataMotion is an accredited HISP (health information service provider), Certificate Authority (CA) and Registration Authority (RA) of Direct Secure Messaging. The DataMotion Direct service enables efficient interoperability and sharing of a person’s data across the continuum of care and their broader lives. DataMotion is privately held and based in Florham Park, N.J. For the latest news and updates, visit https://datamotion.com/, follow DataMotion on LinkedIn or Twitter® @datamotion.

Contact:
Monica Hutton
Marketing Director
DataMotion
973-455-1245
monicah@datamotion.com

 

 

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The Myths and Meaning of HIPAA 600 238 Andy Nieto

The Myths and Meaning of HIPAA

When I was a child, the threat “just wait ‘til your father gets home” was enough to make me change my attitude. I wasn’t punished much as a child, and time with my father was far happier and positive than not, but that phrase still resonated. For many, the meaning of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), is in many ways, like that threat.
HIPAA often inspires doom, gloom, and fear. Because of that, it can lead to unintended expectations and behaviors regarding patient information, making effective care coordination a challenge. In reality, HIPAA gives us some guidance about the protection of information and is a very real threat — only if you ignore it. However, it’s not all doom and gloom.

Can vs. Can't

First, let’s look at what you can do with patient medical data under HIPAA. You can:

  • Connect
  • Share
  • Cooperate
  • Consult
  • Question
  • Exchange
  • Communicate
  • Treat

That’s a significant list and it’s all about coordination.

Now let’s compare that to what you can’t do with this same information under HIPAA. You can’t:

  • Ignore
  • Distribute
  • Expose
  • Publish

It’s easy to see how this can be confusing. The security and privacy standards defined by HIPAA combined with the expanded responsibilities under the Omnibus Rule, have created layers of bureaucracy and whole industries have sprung up to “explain” the meaning of it.

Stewardship

So, let’s step back for a minute and look at what HIPAA is really supposed to be about, which to me, is stewardship. Stewardship is the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving. On the official Federal site, it says that the HIPAA Privacy Rule “establishes national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other personal health information.”

Stewardship implies a personal ownership and responsibility. The word “ethic” implies that very high personal and professional standards should be applied to the responsible management and protection of a patient’s information. It is really about taking care of the health information entrusted to you.

Perhaps the biggest shift in mindset for physicians in the last several years has been the emergence of patient health information as a valuable component of their practice and to treat it accordingly. Let me use an analogy and compare money to information. As a person, you don’t carelessly give away your money or leave it lying around. You don’t share your financial account logins with strangers and you certainly wouldn’t want your financial records being released, exposed or published. As part of our upbringing, from our initial allowance to our first job to your career today, we have been learning about money, its value, and the steps we should take to protect it. Being good stewards of money is a role we recognize and understand. Patient health information should be viewed in the same way.

Medical records are filled with personal data, otherwise known as protected health information (PHI). Once we make the connection that information or data has value and must be treated like money, the standards for HIPAA stop being cumbersome and start being understandable.

Can and Can't Revisited

So, with good stewardship in mind, let’s go back to the “can I” or “can’t I” question and ask yourself the following:

  • Can I connect with another person about a patient? Yes, just make sure that your method of connection is safe and that you have a valid reason for doing so.
  • Can I share a patient’s record with another provider? Absolutely, provided you take steps to ensure the information is protected.
  • Can I cooperate and consult on patients? Of course, but do so in a manner that maintains a patient’s privacy and the protection of the data.

There are a lot of myths around HIPAA, and while the “letter of the law” be confusing at times, “the spirit” and meaning is clear. HIPAA really does not need to be confusing. Be a good steward of the information in your practice of medicine, and you’ll be a long way down the path of complying with HIPAA regulations.

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HIPAA Compliance in the Age of Population Health Management 600 237 Team DataMotion

HIPAA Compliance in the Age of Population Health Management

Population health management (PHM) is the improvement of the health outcomes of a group of patients with similar characteristics. One example of a population in this context are patients suffering from the same chronic condition. The care of patients in this group may be managed similarly, often involving the same treatments, tests, procedures and other forms of care.

The treatment of chronic conditions typically involves multiple parties, from a primary care physician to multiple specialists and of course the patient. This, in turn, requires frequent communications between the parties.

Electronic health records (EHR) systems were intended to facilitate these communications but have some shortcomings. And maintaining Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance is a key challenge. This article looks at how organizations can use Direct Secure Messaging to overcome the technical and regulatory challenges of a Population Health Management communication scenario.

The Importance of HIPAA Compliance in Healthcare

HIPAA compliance is a cornerstone of healthcare operations. It’s a critical safeguard for patients’ sensitive health information. Compliance ensures that healthcare organizations maintain the confidentiality and integrity of patient data, promoting trust and accountability in the industry. In the age of population health management — where data sharing and analysis are essential for improving healthcare delivery — HIPAA compliance becomes even more vital.

Understanding the HIPAA Compliance Rule

The HIPAA compliance rule governs how healthcare organizations handle protected health information (PHI), including how PHI is collected, stored, transmitted and used. It establishes guidelines for healthcare entities to protect patient privacy and data security.

HIPAA applies to various healthcare entities, including hospitals, clinics, insurance providers and business associates. It covers healthcare professionals and organizations handling PHI, helping to secure your data. Essentially, it means doctors can share patient information with other doctors to help treat you, but they cannot share it with your neighbor.

The compliance rule mandates strict safeguards for PHI, including administrative, physical and technical measures. These safeguards are designed to prevent unauthorized access, data breaches and other security threats.

Addressing the Three Key Elements of HIPAA Compliance

To achieve HIPAA compliance, healthcare organizations must focus on three key elements:

  1. Administrative: Administrative safeguards involve establishing policies and procedures for protecting PHI. They include workforce training, risk assessments and designating a security officer responsible for compliance. Effective administrative safeguards ensure responsible data handling and HIPAA compliance.
  2. Physical: These measures relate to protecting the physical infrastructure where PHI is stored. This includes access controls, facility security plans and device encryption. With the expansion of EHR and data centers, physical safeguards are essential to prevent unauthorized PHI access.
  3. Technical: Technical safeguards focus on the technological aspects of data security. They cover measures like access controls, encryption and audit trails. Robust technical safeguards are essential for protecting PHI during transmission and storage.

Population Health Management and HIPAA Compliance

Population health management has emerged as a pivotal approach to enhancing patient outcomes and healthcare quality. While the benefits of PHM are evident, it must operate within a framework of strict data privacy and security standards outlined by HIPAA.

Decoding the Main Components of a Population Health Model

Population health models allow healthcare entities to review healthcare data for a population. With this data, they can look for healthcare needs and develop strategies for addressing them. A population health model consists of five main components:

  1. Health assessment and analysis: This component involves collecting and analyzing health data from various sources, including EHRs, claims data and patient-reported information. These insights drive healthcare strategies and interventions. In the context of HIPAA compliance, it’s critical to ensure the collection and analysis of patient data follows privacy and security standards.
  2. Care coordination and intervention: Once health status is assessed, the next step is coordinating care and implementing interventions. This involves collaborating among healthcare providers, care teams and community organizations. HIPAA compliance is critical here, as the sharing of patient information among stakeholders must be managed carefully to protect patient privacy.
  3. Outcome measurement and continuous improvement: The ultimate goal of population health management is to improve health outcomes. Regularly measuring and assessing the impact of interventions is key. This component relies on data analytics and performance measurement. Health information management professionals ensure the data is accurate, complete and accessible while following HIPAA regulations.
  4. Health promotion and disease prevention: Healthcare organizations must ensure that any communication or educational materials promoting health are HIPAA-compliant and do not disclose PHI without the patient’s consent.
  5. Social determinant of health: Organizations collecting data on socioeconomic factors for addressing social determinants of health must protect sensitive information in compliance with HIPAA.

Achieving Successful Population Health Management

With a population health model, healthcare organizations can work to achieve better results for their patients. While population health models are essential, successful PHM hinges on the following:

  • Data integration and analytics: Health management needs a comprehensive and integrated data infrastructure. This infrastructure should enable healthcare organizations to aggregate data from various sources and perform advanced analytics to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.
  • Patient communication: Engaging patients is central to success. Effective patient communication, including the exchange of health information, enables informed decision-making and patient empowerment. Under HIPAA, healthcare providers must ensure secure and compliant communication channels to protect patient privacy.
  • Community partnerships: Collaborating with community organizations, public health agencies and social services is crucial to addressing the social determinants of health. HIPAA compliance extends to these partnerships, necessitating secure data-sharing agreements and risk assessments.

Leveraging Technology for HIPAA Compliance

Technology is pivotal in ensuring patient data privacy and security in today’s digital age. The use of technology and HIPAA compliance can be tricky without the right software. Effective, secure communication among healthcare professionals is essential for timely and accurate patient care. However, this communication must occur within HIPAA regulations to protect sensitive patient information. Secure digital exchange platforms like DataMotion Direct offer a solution by providing a HIPPA-compliant messaging platform.

Role of Secure Digital Exchange Platforms in Achieving HIPAA Compliance

The ideal solution is Direct Secure Messaging (“Direct”) from DataMotion. Direct is a secure email-like communications channel that enables providers to communicate with each other – as well as with patients and other caregivers – in a secure, HIPAA-compliant way. All messages are encrypted and require authentication to send and receive.

Importantly, Direct is an enhancement to EHRs, not a replacement. Providers can access Direct from within most popular EHRs.

On the provider side, Direct helps improve patient outcomes in a PHM environment by facilitating the exchange of patient medical records in a standardized manner. This includes formatted and unformatted data, as well as large files such as radiologic studies and diagnostic images. Direct enables better coordination of care. It also reduces errors and delays over conventional means of information exchange; for instance, delays when records are sent by courier, and mistakes due to the illegibility of handwritten notes.

On the patient side, Direct gets patients engaged in the management of their condition, which boosts outcomes. Patients can, for example, provide timely feedback on how well treatments are working, allowing providers to make adjustments accordingly without a delay for the patient to make an appointment with the provider. Patients can report new symptoms, complications or other issues to the provider immediately, thereby potentially avoiding life-threatening situations. And providers can ensure that patients refilled prescriptions when scheduled, or remind patients of upcoming office visits or tests to take.

Managing healthcare is increasingly a team effort. Frequent, accurate communication between the team members – including the patient – is paramount to achieving good outcomes. Direct offers an effective enhancement to EHRs that can help care providers deliver better patient outcomes while complying fully with HIPAA rules for privacy and security.

Redefining Communication in Healthcare: The Intersection of HIPAA and Digital Collaboration

Healthcare communication’s transformation through modern tech is revolutionizing how healthcare is delivered. This digital transformation enhances efficiency and aids in HIPAA compliance. DataMotion is at the forefront of this change, empowering health care organizations to embrace secure and compliant digital collaboration.

The importance of communication in public health is undeniable. By facilitating the secure exchange of patient data and clinical information, DataMotion contributes to better patient outcomes while ensuring the protection of their sensitive health information. As healthcare continues to evolve, the intersection of HIPAA and digital collaboration becomes increasingly important. Forward-thinking solutions like DataMotion Direct pave the way for a more connected and secure healthcare ecosystem.

Facing the Challenges of HIPAA Compliance in Large-Scale Healthcare Solutions

Large-scale solutions are pivotal for improving patient care and health outcomes. However, these innovations come with a unique set of challenges, particularly in the context of maintaining HIPAA compliance. Understanding the technical and regulatory challenges faced in PHM communication and current solutions to these challenges is instrumental in overcoming these obstacles.

The Challenge of Managing Chronic Conditions

Chronic conditions are complex to manage. They typically involve multiple syndromes, symptoms, tests and treatments. They require multiple specialists to manage effectively, as well as a high degree of patient diligence.

Diabetes is a good example. It cannot be cured, only managed for the remainder of the patient’s life. As with most complex chronic conditions, managing diabetes involves regular visits with specialists to ensure that things don’t get worse. Managing a patient’s glucose level is always the short-term concern, but left unmanaged, diabetes can result in catastrophic outcomes such as the loss of a patient’s feet or eyes, or kidney or heart damage.

In addition to the patient’s primary care physician, medical professionals involved in the management of diabetes could include nurse educators, endocrinologists, ophthalmologists, cardiologists, dietitians, podiatrists, exercise physiologists, dentists and others. The coordination of care between so many providers — and with the patient — is essential.

Addressing Technical and Regulatory Challenges in Population Health Management Communication

Part of the promise of EHR systems was that they would facilitate the level of information exchange between healthcare providers that is necessary for coordinating the care of patients. To do that, the HL7 data standard emerged to ensure that the hundreds of EHR products in the market could “talk to” each other. Unfortunately, different EHR vendors interpret the HL7 standard differently, resulting in incompatible data formats. This, in turn, causes missing or inaccurate patient records.

In addition, some EHR vendors employ a proprietary data format that effectively blocks information exchange with EHRs from other vendors. And, some vendors charge providers to enable their systems to interoperate with others.

These constraints make it harder to manage patient care across providers, rendering the ultimate goal of PHM – better patient outcomes – harder to reach. The alternative for information exchange – provider-to-provider email, postal mail or faxes, can result in HIPAA violations (and are slow and unreliable).

Another challenge is that EHRs were designed to facilitate provider-to-provider care. But for PHM, the patient plays a pivotal role in achieving good outcomes. So, too, can family members or other caregivers, such as home health agencies, that might not have access to an EHR.

HIPAA compliance in the context of PHM introduces specific challenges that healthcare organizations must address to effectively manage patient data. Here are key challenges related to HIPAA compliance in PHM:

  • Data aggregation and integrations: Clear communication and effective consent management are crucial for obtaining patient consent for data sharing and engagement in population health programs while following HIPAA guidelines.
  • Consent and patient engagement: Obtaining patient consent for data sharing and engagement in population health programs, while complying with HIPAA, requires clear communication and consent management strategies.
  • De-identification and anonymization: It is crucial to de-identify or anonymize patient information before aggregating and analyzing data for population health to protect privacy.
  • Data sharing for research: Collaborative PHM research often requires complying with HIPAA regulations for data sharing and patient consent, adding complexity.

Electronic communication is by far the easiest, most efficient, most reliable and most accountable means of communication between providers and patients. But standard email isn’t a viable option under HIPAA because the identity of the recipient — the reader of the email — cannot be validated. And, regular email is no more secure than sending a postcard with sensitive patient information written on it for all to see, which again presents HIPAA compliance issues. Moreover, regular email lacks documentation and audit trails that all parties involved in the patient’s care can access.

How DataMotion Can Help with These Challenges

Direct offers a secure messaging solution for these challenges. It provides a safe and compliant platform for healthcare professionals to exchange sensitive patient information, ensuring data is protected throughout communication. Using encryption and access controls, Direct helps healthcare organizations share patient data securely while meeting HIPAA requirements. With Direct care coordination, patients can receive better care without information falling through the gaps in healthcare organizations.

HIPAA Compliance and the Nationwide Exchange of Clinical Endpoints

The value of Direct Secure Messaging in large-scale healthcare solutions cannot be overstated. Efficient and secure communication among healthcare providers and organizations is the backbone of effective PHM. DataMotion Direct excels by offering a nationwide exchange network with access to over 2.5 million clinical endpoints.

This extensive network facilitates the secure exchange of clinical information across geographic regions and diverse healthcare entities. Whether it’s sharing patient records, test results or treatment plans, DataMotion Direct ensures sensitive data remains confidential and HIPAA compliant throughout its journey.

Choose DataMotion to Secure Your Healthcare Communication

Large-scale healthcare solutions are transforming how we deliver and manage healthcare. However, with these innovations come significant challenges related to HIPAA compliance and secure communication. DataMotion Direct is a reliable solution, enabling your organization to navigate these challenges effectively.

DataMotion is an accredited Health Information Service Provider (HISP), provisioning Direct services that are fully interoperable with other HISPs. Secure data delivery has been the core of DataMotion’s business since 1999, ensuring your ability to meet HIPAA compliance and Meaningful Use requirements.

By providing secure messaging capabilities and a nationwide network of clinical endpoints, we empower healthcare providers to deliver better patient care while safeguarding the privacy of patient data. If you’re interested in partnering with DataMotion or you want to learn more about our services, contact us online today!

Updated November 1, 2023

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Where is Your Personal Health Record? 600 237 Team DataMotion

Where is Your Personal Health Record?

As the United States healthcare industry continues its journey to digital/electronic health records that can be easily exchanged as patients move between care settings, practical questions abound:

  • Who owns your electronic health records?
  • Where are your health records?
  • How can they be consolidated?
  • Where should they be stored?
  • Who should have access?
  • How can they be shared?

Legally, each individual ‘owns’ their personal health data and records, but very few of us have actual ‘control’ over them, at least from a storage, curation and management standpoint. An individual’s ‘longitudinal record’ — a comprehensive collection of well-care records, like annual physicals and labs, and episodic care records, like diagnosis and treatment for illness or injury, is not typically in one place.

The benefits of personal health records include easier health information access and a secure place to store all of one’s healthcare data.

What Is a Personal Health Record (PHR)?

PHRs are essential to modern healthcare, empowering individuals to manage their own health information and play a more active role in their healthcare. At their core, PHRs are digital archives that comprehensively record a person’s medical history, treatment plans, medications, allergies, and more. Unlike electronic health records (EHRs), which are under the control of healthcare providers, PHRs are created and maintained by patients, allowing them to take charge of their health data.

As the healthcare landscape embraces digital transformation, PHRs have become a valuable tool for promoting patient-centered care. However, they also raise important questions about data security, interoperability, and privacy.

Types of Personal Health Records

PHRs come in two main types, catering to different needs and preferences:

  • Tethered PHRs: These are often linked or “tethered” to a specific healthcare institution or provider’s EHR system. Patients can access their medical information from that particular provider or network. Tethered PHRs ensure data accuracy and direct integration with a healthcare system, but they may limit access to a patient’s complete health history.
  • Standalone PHRs: Standalone PHRs are independent of any healthcare institution or EHR system. Patients create and manage their records, adding information like medical history, prescriptions, and test results themselves. These offer greater health data portability and control but require more active patient involvement in keeping them updated.

Managing PHRs Across Healthcare Providers

Managing personal health records across multiple providers is crucial for comprehensive and coordinated healthcare. Here are the main considerations for working across providers:

  • Interoperability: Interoperability between PHRs and EHRs is crucial for seamless healthcare data exchange and improved patient care. Standards like Health Level 7 and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources promote a standard and secure way of data exchange between PHRs and EHRs. Some PHR platforms offer integration with multiple EHR systems.
  • Consolidation: Consider digitizing your paper form PHRs by scanning or taking clear photos to create electronic versions. Organize the digital records from your multiple providers into your chosen PHR platform.
  • Permissions and security: PHR users must carefully manage access permissions. Sharing specific data with relevant providers ensures they have the necessary information while safeguarding sensitive details.
  • Data accuracy: Regularly updating PHRs to reflect recent diagnoses, medications and test results delivers the most accurate information. This helps healthcare providers make informed decisions.
  • Emergency access: Make sure your emergency contact information is up-to-date and configure it to allow healthcare providers to access critical information in case of an emergency.
  • Mobile apps: Many PHR platforms offer mobile apps, making accessing and managing records on the go convenient.
  • Back up your data: Regularly back up your PHR data using secured means to prevent data loss. Store backup securely, and consider using a trusted cloud storage for redundancy.

Security and Privacy Concerns

Security and privacy are paramount when it comes to PHRs due to the sensitivity of the data they contain. Failure to secure patient information can lead to fines and violations, affecting patient trust and the organization’s reputation. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) outlines the standards for protecting and sharing patient information to ensure effective and private healthcare.

Here are some of the main privacy and security concerns you should be aware of:

  1. Data breaches: PHRs are attractive targets for cybercriminals. A breach can expose personal health information, leading to identity theft, insurance fraud or blackmail. Robust encryption and authentication protocols are essential to protect against unauthorized access.
  2. Unauthorized access: Unauthorized individuals gaining access to a person’s PHR can lead to privacy violations and misuse of health information. Strong access controls and multi-factor authentication can help prevent this.
  3. Data ownership: Determining who owns and controls PHR data can be complex. Patients typically own their health data, but healthcare providers may have legal responsibilities. Clarifying ownership and access rights is crucial.
  4. Interoperability risks: Sharing PHRs across different healthcare providers raises interoperability challenges. Data may be exposed to more entities, increasing the risk of unauthorized access if not properly secured during transfer.
  5. Consent management: Patients should have granular control over who can access their PHR data. Effective consent management systems are necessary to ensure data is only shared with authorized parties.
  6. Data retention and deletion: PHRs should allow for data retention policies and easy deletion of outdated materials to maintain data accuracy and reduce privacy risks.
  7. Trust in PHR providers: Trustworthy PHR providers should adhere to strict security standards and privacy regulations, providing transparent policies and regular security audits.
  8. Regulatory compliance: PHRs must comply with healthcare data privacy laws like HIPAA or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), adding another layer of responsibility for security and privacy.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Developing and using PHRs means accounting for all the legal and ethical considerations involved. These systems deal with personal health information, making it essential for PHRs to protect users and hosts from breaches and violations. Here are some of the critical considerations for PHRs:

  1. Privacy laws: All PHRs must comply with the relevant HIPAA or GDPR laws or face fines and other ramifications. These laws mandate strict controls on how health information is stored, collected, and shared.
  2. Informed consent: Ethical use of PHRs requires informed consent from individuals before collecting or sharing their health data. This includes clearly explaining how that data will be used and who will have access.
  3. Security measures: Implementing strong security measures is both a legal and ethical obligation. Protecting health data from breaches and unauthorized access is essential.
  4. Minimizing bias: PHR developers and users must be cautious about introducing bias into the data. Biased data can lead to unequal healthcare outcomes, which raises ethical concerns.
  5. Accessibility: PHRs should be designed to accommodate individuals with disabilities, ensuring equitable access to healthcare information.
  6. Ethical data use: PHRs should not be exploited for commercial gain or used unethically, such as in discriminatory practices.

The Future of Personal Health Records

The PHR model is a grassroots approach and needs a boost from a major cloud services player to get it going. There needs to be significant support to get these apps adopted and the data flowing from clinical repositories into PHRs at a population scale. Then, the patient control and resulting consumerization of healthcare can drive more value from clinical service providers. With the 21st Century Cures Act giving patients the right to access all electronically protected health information in their records, steps are being made towards a patient-focused, accessible PHR approach.

PHRs might take the form of individual responsibility — the patient collects, maintains, and curates their own EHRs using a cloud service and application. These personal health record apps and systems give patients lots of control over their records and ease of access. Showing up in a clinical setting with all your health information accessible from your iPhone is the type of immediacy and control digital natives expect.

In the absence of a major cloud service initiative, medical associations representing chronic conditions or cancers can build critical mass among their patients. Suppose the American Cancer Society or the American Diabetes Association offered an app with a PHR function. In that case, they could build a base of users that would not only control their health records as they moved through their care plans and clinical settings, but they could also provide population health data for research and candidates for clinical trials – perhaps as easily as an opt-in offer.

One way or another, the push for more data to be accessible to patients and their caregivers programmatically will continue, and the demand for clinical information exchange technologies and services that are interoperable and cost-efficient will expand rapidly as well.

Discover the Power of Secure Healthcare Communication with DataMotion

In an increasingly interconnected healthcare landscape, secure communication is essential. DataMotion offers cutting-edge Direct Secure Messaging solutions that revolutionize how healthcare professionals exchange critical patient information. With DataMotion’s advanced and secure healthcare solutions, you can enhance patient care, streamline workflows and ensure compliance with stringent policy regulations.

Contact us online to explore our patient-forward PHR solutions today.

Updated November 1, 2023

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Healthcare Provider Directory Boosts Direct Secure Messaging Value 1024 403 Team DataMotion

Healthcare Provider Directory Boosts Direct Secure Messaging Value

The Direct Secure Messaging network overseen by DirectTrust.org is growing rapidly. At mid-year 2019, there are over 190,000 clinical organizations using Direct, and almost 2 million addresses have been issued. This critical mass has the power to enable interoperable health information exchange between disparate systems nationwide, but recipient addresses must be easily discoverable in order to achieve this. Luckily, many health information service providers (HISPs) provide access to a DirectTrust federated directory known as the Healthcare Provider Directory (HPD). This directory grants you access to a constantly growing Direct subscriber database, allowing you to easily discover recipient addresses.

What to Look For in a Healthcare Provider Directory (HPD):

When choosing an HPD, there are a variety of different features that you should be on the lookout for. Some of the key features that we recommend you search for are:

  • The ability to search for a recipient by multiple criteria, including:
    • Provider name
    • National Provider Identifier (NPI)
    • Medical specialty
    • Function/role
    • Etc.
  • HPD sharing agreements with other Health Information Service Providers (HISPs) and the DirectTrust organization
  • Integration with the nationwide NPI registry. This enables updates and appends data for individual records in the directory

So, How Can the DataMotion HPD Meet Your Needs?

DataMotion Direct Community Web Portal Users

All users of our DataMotion Direct Community Web Portal (CWP) have access to the DataMotion HPD through the search field integrated into the CWP Address Book function. This address book allows you to search by a variety of criteria including by provider name, organization, location, NPI, or specialty, making it easy to find your intended recipient address. Once an address is found, all you have to do is set the address in a message or save it to your address book.

DataMotion Direct Integration Partners

Are you a DataMotion Direct Integration Partner? If you are, then you receive comprehensive access to the DataMotion HPD via the HPD Web Services API for EHR software vendors and other health IT solution providers. This allows HPD integration into an application user interface. The web services API exposes search functionality using the same parameters so it can be integrated into existing software and workflows.

Infographic of Data Motion HPD

What Kinds of Features and Benefits are We Able to Offer Your Organization?

  • Extensive Data Set – With over 20 searchable data fields, you can expect much better search accuracy
  • NPI Registry Integration – Our HPD regularly checks the NPI Registry, meaning it is constantly up-to-date and appending data for individual records in the directory
  • API access – Allows you to integrate HPD search/retrieval into your existing applications and workflows
  • HISP partnerships – Allows us to continuously expand the DataMotion HPD and make DataMotion Direct addresses discoverable to other providers across the country

If you’re ready to learn more, please contact us.

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What Are Open APIs and FHIR for Health Information? 1024 403 Team DataMotion

What Are Open APIs and FHIR for Health Information?

In 1989, Health Level Seven International (HL7) released HL7 V2 to ensure enterprise-level interoperability across the healthcare industry. HL7 was followed up with HL7 V3 in 2003, which was based on XML coding. However, the limitations were quickly known — it was not backward compatible and lacked the interoperability, flexibility, real-time data exchange capabilities and applicability of modern technologies.

In 2014, HL7 released the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources’ (FHIR) standard, defining rules for how healthcare information can be electronically exchanged. FHIR uses a RESTful application programming interface (API) approach, making it web-friendly and allowing developers to access and exchange healthcare data in a more efficient and standardized manner. It modularizes resources, which are individual pieces of data such as patient records, observations and medications. These resources can be combined to create comprehensive health records and enable better interoperability among healthcare systems and applications.

The use of open APIs simplifies the process of sharing and accessing information among various healthcare players and systems. The healthcare industry has widely adopted Direct Secure Messaging as well as FHIR due to its flexibility, ease of implementation and suitability for various healthcare scenarios.

How Are FHIR Open APIs Used?

FHIR APIs have a wide range of uses in the healthcare industry. Below are some of the common ways FHIR APIs are utilized:

  • Patient portals: FHIR APIs allow patients to access their health data through web or mobile applications. Patients can view their medical history, test results and prescriptions, promoting improved patient engagement and better self-care.
  • Electronic health record (EHR) integration: FHIR APIs allow healthcare providers to integrate EHR systems with other applications, allowing for the seamless exchange of patient information between different healthcare organizations and facilities.
  • Telemedicine and remote monitoring: FHIR APIs enable telemedicine platforms, allowing healthcare professionals to provide remote care and consultations. APIs also enable real-time monitoring of vital signs and medication management.
  • Clinical decision support: FHIR APIs support the retrieval of patient information from EHRs and other systems to provide evidence-based recommendations and alerts.
  • Medical research and clinical trials: Researchers can use FHIR APIs to access and share patient data for clinical trials and streamline data collection and analysis while maintaining patient privacy.
  • Mobile health and wearable devices integration: FHIR APIs can be used to integrate data from health and wellness-focused mobile apps and wearable devices for improved patient care and tracking overall public health.
  • Government and public health initiatives: Government agencies and public health organizations can use FHIR APIs to collect, analyze and share health data for disease surveillance, health policy formulation and public health campaigns.

The use of FHIR APIs has become crucial for managing healthcare data — so much so that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) now mandates the use of FHIR APIs in EHR programs for Meaningful Use.

What Are the Advantages of FHIR APIs?

FHIR APIs offer several advantages that contribute to improved interoperability, resulting in improved patient outcomes. Some of the key advantages include:

  • Standardized data exchange and interoperability: The use of FHIR APIs provides a standardized framework for data exchange. This ensures the data is uniformly structured and formatted, making it easier for various systems and applications to interpret and manage.
  • Modularity and granularity: FHIR APIs are designed with modularity and granularity in mind, allowing developers to retrieve only the data they need. This reduces data transfer overhead and minimizes the risk of sharing unnecessary data.
  • Efficient development: Interacting with healthcare data is made easier with FHIR APIs, providing a standardized approach to development. RESTful APIs are commonly used in non-healthcare industries, making it easy to find developers. With the availability of numerous tools, libraries and documentation, developers can seamlessly integrate FHIR APIs into their applications.
  • Real-time data access: Accessing patient data in real-time through FHIR APIs improves the accuracy and timeliness of care provided.
  • Migration and integration: FHIR APIs can be used to migrate data from legacy systems to modern EHRs, improving data accuracy and consistency.

What Are the Challenges of Open APIs/FHIR?

While open APIs and FHIR have come a long way in the past few years, as with any new technology, some challenges are to be expected. For example, managing various versions of FHIR and ensuring backward compatibility can be a challenge, particularly when updates to the standard are issued. FHIR implementations can vary between EHR vendors and healthcare systems, leading to inconsistencies in how data is exchanged.

A lot of healthcare organizations do not possess the required IT knowledge to efficiently set up and manage FHIR API systems. Hence, these organizations partner with web service API providers such as DataMotion.

Trust API and FHIR Healthcare Solutions from DataMotion

The DataMotion Direct Secure Messaging service and DataMotion Direct APIs are data–sharing techniques complementary to the FHIR Open API standard. DataMotion works with partners to leverage health information exchange techniques for innovative new solutions that enable patient engagement, care management, care transitions and patient enrollment.

Contact our sales team to increase interoperability with FHIR open APIs.

Updated September 25, 2023

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