Connecting for Health Releases Identity Report
A new report, “Connecting Americans to Their Health Care” published by Connecting for Health notes lapses in the healthcare system to verify the identities of healthcare consumers online. The report authors suggest that patients would both increase and expand their use of healthcare information available on the internet if identity security was enhanced. News of the report’s publication was described by Health Data Management.
The report notes that a variety of different validation techniques should be employed to foster use of electronic health services that are already available, such as personal health records. An additional recommendation is that federal agencies should be responsible for the creation of identity validation approaches and set benchmarks. One such agency cited is the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
Connecting for Health authors note that commonly employed validation methods used in the healthcare realm have yet to be validated. One example of such is the verification of identity by reviewing identification documents in person from government agencies.
Alternative techniques that should have increased reliability are authentication approaches that are knowledge-based. In those, information only known to an individual is queried through an electronic dialog. It further recommends that healthcare organizations utilized identification confirmation tools overseen by other parties, such as those used by financial institutions.
January 30, 2008 Related topics: Trends, Quality, Safety, Errors