Recent Items of Interest

Nearly 1 in 8 people have withheld information about themselves from a healthcare provider due to concerns about security and privacy, according to a study published online by the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Recently the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance (MIFA) released its annual survey on medical identity theft conducted by the Ponemon Institute. The report indicates that medical identity theft is increasing and consumers need to take appropriate actions to protect their personal information. [Include a link to the report.]
http://medidfraud.org/2013-survey-on-medical-identity-theft/

HIMSS white paper published
The HIMSS Patient Identity Integrity work group recently published a white paper entitled . . .

GPII white paper on privacy
In May, 2013 GPII published a white paper entitled A Privacy Strategy for the United States Healthcare Industry. This 15 page document provides an in-depth look at how to implement healthcare privacy in today’s complex healthcare automation environment. It describes how VUHID private identifiers can empower patients to manage their privacy across multiple independent EHR systems and HIEs.

ONC to do an ‘environmental scan’ on the issue of patient identification
The Office of the National Coordinator has recently announced its decision to do an environmental scan on patient identification. A draft of questions to be included in this scan is being circulated and the actual collection of data is anticipated to begin . . . .

Patient identification is a top HIMSS ‘ask’ on capitol hill
For the 4th year in a row HIMSS has listed patient identification as one of its top three priorities for National Health IT week in Washington, D.C.

Connecting the Industry: Behind the Scenes of the New Healthcare Triangle
An article recently published in Mr. HIStalk argues that sharing anonymized sets of data with pharmaceutical organizations represents a win-win-win situation for those who rely on shared information to develop new treatments, assess care options, and make the best care choices possible. VUHID private identifiers are a logical mechanism to anonymously identify such data sets in a securely anonymous manner. http://histalk2.com/2013/08/14/readers-write-connecting-the-industry-beh...

The Growing Threat of Medical Identity Fraud: A Call to Action. This is a white paper published by the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance in July of 2013. It contains an analysis of the problem, two case studies of medical ID fraud, and a series of recommended actions to begin to better address this serious and growing problem.

HISTalk, 8/23/13, In England, a patient dies after employees omit the an [sic] apostrophe in her last name while looking up her electronic records, causing them to miss her history of depression. She was discharged and killed herself with a sleeping pill overdose shortly after.

Medical Identity Fraud Alliance formed. In response to the growing threat represented by medical identity theft a combine public and private sector organization has been formed. Its job is to promote education to increase the awareness of the dangers of medical identity theft, perform research to better understand the problem, and promote actions to limit its incidence and negative consequences. For more information see (link to www.MedIDFraud.org.)