Modernization is the key to healthcare reform

There are numerous examples of how modernization can revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered and privacy is protected. Technology deployed must improve the quality of patient care, reduce costs, minimize provider workflow and address the concerns and efficiencies required to justify investment. Identity, and more specifically a healthcare identity management system, needs to be the cornerstone of this reform. Validating a person’s identity immediately introduces real benefits to health care delivery and the ability to control cost and reduce fraud.

The Medical Identity Theft Report sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that little is done to authenticate the identity of individuals throughout healthcare systems and concluded that medical identity theft is a significant problem with consumers bearing the most significant risk of loss. This report is not isolated in its findings. HHS defines Medical Identity Theft as “the misuse of another individual’s personally identifiable information such as name, date of birth, Social Security number, or insurance policy number to obtain or bill for medical services or medical goods.1

The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) highlights the need to address patient privacy and security including a section specifically focused on how consumers are to be notified if there is an information breach. While the ARRA is a good step in the right direction it falls short of implementing policies that would require a proactive approach to implementing controls and technology that would assure patient information is protected while increasing the efficiency of how that information is shared.

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References
1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Medical Identity Theft Town Hall. October 15, 2008
 

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