Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC)

Background
Consumer Education & Engagement Collaborative
Standards Adoption Collaborative
Work Completed in Phases 1 & 2
More Information

Background

Research Triangle Institute International (RTI) is under contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to work with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology to implement a national collaborative effort to address privacy and security policy questions affecting interoperable health information exchange (HIE).

The office of Governor Gregoire and the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) designated Qualis Health, a nonprofit quality improvement organization, to serve as Washington State’s lead non-governmental agency for this effort.

The HISPC project is currently in its third phase (April 1, 2008 – March 31, 2009). During the project year, Qualis Health will partner with other HISPC states in two separate Collaborative efforts. The first Collaborative focuses on consumer education and engagement in health information technology (HIT), and the other Collaborative focuses on policies for standards adoption.

Additionally, Qualis Health, under the HISPC contract, is working with AccessMyHealth.org, a committee organized by the Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board (HIIAB) and the HCA to activate and engage consumers and providers in the use of online personalized health records in conjunction with the State’s health record banking demonstration project.

Consumer Education and Engagement Collaborative

Working with seven other HISPC states (Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and West Virginia) Qualis Health will be contributing to the development of an educational resource toolkit for general use by other states and organizations to educate and engage consumers about HIT and HIE.

The final toolkit will include the following resources:

Consumer Education Resources Inventory - Developed by Qualis Health
Inventory Gap Analysis - Developed by Qualis Health
Glossary of Common HIE/HIT terms - Developed by Kansas HISPC
(DRAFT) HIE Patient Consent Guidelines - Developed by New York HISPC
FAQs on Privacy and Security - To be developed by Massachusetts HISPC
Guidelines for Consumer Engagement - Developed by West Virginia HISPC
Summary for Patient Rights Under HIPAA - To be developed by Oregon HISPC
Tips for Consumers to Protect Health Information - To be developed by Oregon HISPC
Methods and Resources to Translate Consumer Materials to Different Languages and Literacy Levels - To be developed by Oregon HISPC
Summary of Risks and Benefits of HIE - To be developed by Colorado HISPC

Check back to this website for updates to the toolkit.

Standards Adoption Collaborative

Working alongside Qualis Health in Washington are 10 other HISPC states (Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia). Members of this Collaborative will assess policy and procedures related to HIE authentication and audit for select business models. Washington State has agreed to be a “modeling” state for this Collaborative. The HCA/HIIAB Health Record Bank Demonstration project will be one of six HIE networks that the Standards Adoption Collaborative will examine in-depth for policy and technical standards. These assessments will then be used to develop a set of basic policy requirements for adoption of authentication and audit standards as well as inform an implementation strategy to adopt the policies.

To assess organizations, policies and procedures related to HIE, Qualis Health took the lead in developing an Environmental Scan Survey tool to interview stakeholders about their organizational practices. Working together with members of the HISPC Standards Adoption Collaborative, this tool was developed to assess stakeholder input on the following topics:

Use Agreement
Registration
Verifying Identity
Identity Provisioning
Maintenance
Access Control
Audit
State-specific Topics

This survey tool was used in Washington State and other HISPC states participating in the Standards Adoption Collaborative.

Work Completed in HISPC Phases 1 and 2

Phase 1:

During the first phase of HISPC (June 2006 - March 2007) RTI's prescriptive process for HISPC contractors included the sequential convening of Working Groups, each tasked to meet a specific goal:

The Variations Working Group assessed organization-level business policies, practices and state laws that affect health information exchange.
The Solutions Working Group identified and proposed practical solutions that protect privacy and security of health information and permit interoperable HIE.
The Implementation Plan Working Group developed plans to implement solutions within the state and, if applicable, at the federal level.

The final HISPC Report for Washington State synthesized the information that these working groups developed.

Phase 2:

HISPC Phase 2 (July 1- December 31, 2007) entailed developing plans to implement the proposals from the first phase of HISPC, particularly in the areas of consumer engagement and authentication standards adoption. The final HISPC 2 report details the discussions and work that was completed during this time frame.

More Information

For additional information regarding Washington State's HISPC project, please contact:

Peggy Evans, PhD
HISPC Project Director at Qualis Health
(206) 364-9700 ext. 2069
peggye@qualishealth.org