Privacy and security solutions for interoperable health information exchange

Abstract

This Impact Analysis report is the seventh in a series of reports to be produced under RTI International’s contract with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). During the past 18 months, participating state teams1 have successfully completed an assessment of the variation among business practices, policies, and laws to gain a better understanding of the privacy and security landscape within their states to prepare them to develop a comprehensive plan to protect health information that is stored and exchanged electronically. The state teams also identified practices, policies, and laws that create barriers to electronic health information exchange and have worked to develop possible solutions to these barriers that both preserve and protect privacy and security and promote interoperable electronic health information exchange. The Privacy and Security Solutions project has provided the state teams with the leadership, methodology, and funding to engage and educate stakeholders within their states and build coalitions of stakeholders across diverse areas within the health care system. The Impact Analysis report provides an analysis of the many ways that the Privacy and Security Solutions project has impacted the landscape for electronic health information exchange both within and across the participating states. To date, the project has had the greatest impact on the following areas: legislation; executive orders; leadership and governance; stakeholder education and knowledge; and, development and sustainability of health information technology (health IT)/health information exchange efforts in the states. A separate section detailing the progress of the collaborative work groups and other crossstate initiatives and interstate projects is included.