The California Office of Health Information Integrity (CalOHII) has published proposed regulations for its electronic health information exchange (HIE) demonstration projects. According to CalOHII’s Initial Statement of Reasons, such projects “will test policies and rules to better inform the State and health care stakeholders while the HIE infrastructure is being defined over the next several years. By allowing for various HIE demonstration projects, it will be possible to determine how best to protect privacy in accordance with State and Federal laws while enabling electronic health information exchange.”
The State of California was awarded $38.8 million dollars under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in order to develop the projects.
The Request for Application states,
Demonstration project participants will be testing electronic HIE privacy and security policies that will not only address the feasibility of implementation and gauge the implementation impact, but identify the need for standardization across all participating health care entities as the Participants gauge the impact of the policies. Participation in the demonstration projects will provide the Participants with clarification on privacy and security issues, protection and mitigation of legal risks, and the structure to facilitate valuable and appropriately safeguarded testing of policies within the demonstration projects regulations. This will allow the Participants to be engaged in the most advanced electronic exchange of health information environment in California as the State looks to the future.
By helping to develop implementation strategies consistent with the demonstration projects regulations, participating entities will be contributing to inform the CalOHII and HIE stakeholders on the critical privacy and security policy issues, identifying new and innovative privacy and security practices that enhance consumers trust and confidence with electronic exchange of health information. Results from the demonstration projects will inform the California legislature of the outcomes, best practices, and the need for harmonization with federal privacy and security law.
Additionally,
For calendar year 2011, CalOHII is seeking demonstration project participants that will propose comprehensive implementation strategies for the identified demonstration project. The goals of each demonstration project will include:
• Determine operational feasibility of implementing the policy;
• Determine operational feasibility of implementing an electronic HIE process;
• Discover issues associated with the operationalization of the policy; and
• Develop and propose policy solutions.
CalOHII will, in the future, seek participants for demonstration projects, as allowed through AB 278, for calendar years 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Applications to participate in the 2011 demonstration projects are due March 7, 2011.
The full text of the proposed regulations is available here. CalOHII will accept written comments on the proposed regulations until April 1, 2011.
Disputing previously discussed some of the issues related to the utilization of electronic health records here and here.
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