September 8, 2015: Medical leader and well-known author Eric Topol, MD, supports health record banks. In a recent article entitled "Unpatients — why patients should own their medical data", Leonard Kish and Eric Topol argue that patient ownership of medical data is essential to accessing its value, and reference the Health Record Bank activities in Switzerland.
May 28, 2015: New think tank report supports Health Record Banking. In a new report from the Third Way think tank entitled, "A Lifetime Electronic Health Record for Every American", the authors (including HRBA Advisory Board member David Kendall) argue that every American should have a longitudinal health record, and that health record banks can accomplish this.
December 6, 2014: Former ONC Director David Blumenthal, MD, supports patient ownership of medical records. In an article in General Internal Medicine entitled " Patients Control of their EHR Data", former ONC Director David Blumenthal and his co-authors argue that patients should own and control their health records.
August 3, 2014: The Health Record Banking Alliance responded to an RFI about EHRs and Interoperability from DoD. In the response, the need for and advantages of health record banking are described in detail.
June 6, 2013: Dr. William Yasnoff is featured in an article entitled "Is Now the Time for Health Record Banks?". In the article, the current failure of health information exchanges (HIEs) is described as well as the potential to transform these efforts into a successful health information infrastructure with health record banks. Dr. Yasnoff will be giving a presentation detailing his vision for health record banks at the upcoming Digital Healthcare Conference on June 10th in Madison, WI.
May 30, 2013: The Health Record Banking Alliance is pleased to announce that Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD, FACMI, has been elected Chair of our Advisory Board. Dr. Shortliffe is an internationally recognized leader and pioneer in biomedical informatics and the 2006 recipient of the Morris F. Collen Award, the highest honor for lifetime achievement in the field. Early in his career, his groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence earned him the Grace Murray Hopper Award from the Association for Computing Machinery. He currently serves on the faculty at the University of Arizona and Columbia University, and is also former President and CEO of the American Medical Informatics Association. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the widely used textbook Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Healthcare and Medicine and the Journal of Biomedical Informatics. Most importantly, he has been an active advocate for effective health information infrastructure since the late 1980s. HRBA is delighted to have the benefit of his leadership.
May 13, 2013: Today the Health Record Banking Alliance responded to the recent White Paper entitled, "Reboot: Re-examining the Strategies Needed to Successfully Adopt Health IT" released on 4/16/13 by Senators Thune, Alexander, Roberts, Burr, Coburn, and Enzi. Our response endorses the comments of Patient Command, Inc., submitted by Richard Marks (Vice President of HRBA). The Patient Command comments emphasize the failure of ONC to address and specify interoperability standards as a key root cause of the lack of progress now apparent in our health information infrastructure development efforts. In addition, both the Patient Command comments and the HRBA response cite the negative impact of ONC's pursuit of the misguided "institution-centric" or "provider-query" architecture instead of the more effective and immediately feasible patient-centric health record banking approach that compiles each person's comprehensive health records in an account controlled by that person. Health record banking solves the problems of privacy (with patient control), stakeholder cooperation (because the patients request their own records, the HIPAA regulations require every stakeholder to provide them electronically if available in that form), and financial sustainability (with revenue generated from optional applications for patients and research use of the data with permission) that have stymied prior efforts. HRBA looks forward to bipartisan action leading to a redirection of our nation's health information infrastructure development towards this feasible and sustainable model.
April 22, 2013: HRBA submitted comments in response to the the CMS-ONC RFI, "Advancing Interoperability and Health Information Exchange." HRBA recommended that CMS and ONC: 1. Finalize the draft regulations that allow patients to request and directly receive their lab results in electronic form. This will promote patients’ access to and control of this critical information. 2. Allocate at least $50 million to competitively fund at least three large-scale health record bank (HRB) demonstration projects. Properly structured, such projects could be fully functional within six months after initiation. 3. Provide assistance to existing health information exchanges (HIEs) to convert into HRBs, which requires: 1) engagement with consumers; 2) development of value-added services for consumers; and 3) organizational realignment to ensure consumer trust. A collaborative effort to address these issues among HIEs could rapidly lead to effective transitional strategies.
April 10, 2013: An interview with Dr. William Yasnoff, President of the HRBA, for the Patients Know Best blog was posted regarding the future of health information infrastructure. In it, Dr. Yasnoff describes in detail how the health record banking approach, incorporating community repositories of comprehensive electronic patient records with access controlled by patients, solves the key problems of privacy, stakeholder cooperation, electronic standardized information, and financial sustainability that have been problematic in current efforts.
April 8, 2013: Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, was quoted responding to the latest grants from ONC to promote HIE Governance. He indicated that ONC's latest efforts are misguided as long as patients do not control their own data. He urged ONC to adopt the health record banking approach incorporating community repositories of electronic patient records with access controlled by patients to ensure the availability of comprehensive patient information when and where needed.
March 12, 2013: The Journal of the AMA published a Viewpoint advocating health record banks entitled, "Putting Health IT on the Path to Success." Authored by HRBA President William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD, and HRBA Advisory Board members Latanya Sweeney, PhD, and Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD, the article highlights the growing and consistent published evidence of the failure of the current approach to health information exchange (HIE) that leaves patients' electronic medical records where they happen to be created. It goes on to list the reasons why this "scattered" record architecture can never be successful. Finally, the Viewpoint urges physicians to support health record banking, which solves the problems of privacy, stakeholder cooperation, and financial sustainability that have stymied current HIE efforts through the implementation of patient-controlled, community-based repositories of electronic medical records (as described in detail in the HRBA Architecture and Business Model white papers).
January 6, 2013: The Health Record Banking Alliance has submitted comments Comments on MU Stage 3 NPRM to ONC in response to the NPRM for Meaningful Use Stage 3. In the comments, the HRBA strongly urges ONC to eliminate the proposed requirement that all EHRs be able to respond to queries from other EHRs to retrieve patient data (IEWG 101), describing it as "unwise and wasteful" since such a requirement is unnecessary, infeasible, and burdensome. In addition, HRBA recommended that ONC: 1) Eliminate the Provider Directory query for EHR Certification (IEWG 102); 2) Eliminate the Clinical Trial query for EHR Certification (SGRP 209); 3) Simplify patient consent implementation using the HRB architecture (MU04); and 4) Simplify information sharing and additional applications using the HRB architecture (MU05).
January 4, 2013: The Health Record Banking Alliance has released a white paper on architecture for health information exchange. It describes in detail how health record banks, patient-controlled repositories of electronic health records, can provide a fully capable health information infrastructure for the nation that is simpler, less expensive, more secure, and can provide lifetime patient records. An infrastructure comprised of health record banks can meet the key requirements of comprehensive electronic patient information when and where needed, protection of privacy with dynamic patient access control, and financial sustainability.
December 12, 2012: The Health Record Banking Alliance has released a white paper on business models for health information exchange. It describes in detail how health record banks, patient-controlled repositories of electronic health records, facilitate a variety of feasible business models for health information sharing. Health record banks can be the basis for feasible and sustainable health information infrastructure, and represent a viable alternative architecture for HIEs across the nation struggling to implement systems that can provide comprehensive electronic patient information when and where needed with a viable financial model.
December 10, 2012: A paper published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics shows that the "scattered" architecture for electronic medical records, which leaves the records where they happen to be created, results in exponentially more transactions and is exponentially more likely to result in incomplete patient records compared to a central repository (like health record banks). The paper describes simulations of both architectures under various conditions and concludes that "the distributed model scaled poorly in terms of data availability and integrity with a higher failure rate when compared to the centralized model of data storage." [Lapsia V, Lamb K, and Yasnoff W (2012): Where should electronic records for patients be stored? Int J of Med Informatics 81:821-827]
August 14, 2012: Patient Control Reduces Privacy Issues for Health Data Sharing Networks. Wake Forest School of Medicine researchers built an open-source prototype of a medical image sharing network that allowed patients to control their health data. Their study finds that the network reduced concerns about data privacy and security. FierceHealthIT, CMIO. © 2012 California HealthCare Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
June 26, 2012: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to ONC in response to its Governance RFI, highlighting three major concerns: 1) Vision of the operational NwHIN is not clear. HRBA urged ONC to convene appropriate experts and stakeholders to define what the overall NwHIN architecture should be, with the goal of creating a detailed operational blueprint that explains how each person’s comprehensive electronic medical records will be available when and where needed; 2) Architecture is needed before regulation. ONC’s focus on exchange (the mechanism) vs. availability of comprehensive electronic patient records (the goal) is leading to unnecessary and unproductive issues; and 3) Health Record Banks are not considered in the governance model, even though they provide a workable architecture and simplify regulation. In addition, HRBA expressed strong opposition to the idea of limiting health information exchange to 501(c)(3) non-profit entities, citing both the lack of evidence for improved outcomes from this type of organization, and the resultant severe limitations this would impose on private sector efforts to raise capital for these activities.
June 13, 2012: A new health reform in Australia goes into effect on July 1st. A vast electronic database will store the personal health records of all Australians who choose to opt into it. http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3524583.htm
June 13, 2012: The Health Record Banking Alliance has been asking ONC/HHS to issue an open letter to providers clarifying their existing legal obligation to provide health records in electronic form in response to requests from consumers. We are pleased to report that the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is responsible for HIPAA enforcement, recently issued an open letter to consumers related to this issue: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/righttoaccessmemo.pdf While this is not exactly what we requested, it is very close and goes a long way to achieving our goals. This letter can be shared with any providers who are balking at supplying records in response to patient requests. We look forward to further cooperation from HHS as we work collaboratively to remove obstacles to the development and operation of health record banks.
May 4, 2012: Today, the Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to CMS on the Meaningful Use Stage 2 NPRM, focused exclusively on the “download and transmit” requirement. In summary, HRBA recommended that:
April 25, 2012: HRBA has been designated as a Privacy by Design "Ambassador" organization by the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada. This designation confirms our alignment with and support of Privacy by Design principles and represents the gold standard of commitment to the protection of client personal information.
April 17, 2012: Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, described the imminent launch of a health record bank by the Data Privacy Lab at Harvard University today. The project, known as MyDataCan (www.mydatacan.org), will allow anyone to establish a free HRB account. Data is double encrypted, like a safe deposit box, so all access is controlled by the account holder. This is the first time that a major academic institution has hosted an HRB.
February 20, 2012: Health Record Banking Alliance Announces National Advisory Board. Click here for press release.
February 7, 2012: National Experts to Meet at HIMSS to Promote Health Record Banks. In a guest column posted today at NHINWatch, Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, explains how health record banks (HRBs) can successfully address the three key challenges of health information infrastructure in communities (privacy, stakeholder participation, and financial sustainability) and describes the inaugural meeting of the HRBA Advisory Board at the upcoming HIMSS 2012 to discuss strategies to promote and accelerate development and adoption of HRBs.October 19, 2011: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services on the proposed rule to modify the CLIA program and the HIPAA privacy rule to improve patient access to laboratory test reports. The HRBA response emphasizes the central importance of consumers' control of their own health information, and the ability of health record bank architecture to securely and conveniently transfer lab results.
September 20, 2011: In a guest column for NHINWatch, Dr. William Yasnoff, President of the Health Record Banking Alliance, explains why health record banks are needed to successfully solve the health information technology problem for the nation.
September 9, 2011: Today the Health Record Banking Alliance joined the first group of organizations signing ONC's Consumer Health Pledge. As a supporter of consumer-controlled electronic health records since 2006, HRBA welcomes the attention of ONC to promoting progress in getting patients their electronic health information.
August 18, 2011: The Australian government announced the awarding of a $450+ million contract to provide a health record bank account to all residents by mid-2012. This initiative, known as the Personally-Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) is a key part of Australia’s 2011-12 health information infrastructure strategic plan.
December 24, 2010: The Health Record Banking Alliance has developed State Legislative Principles for regulation of Health Record Banks. These principles, offered in the absence of existing comprehensive federal legislation, are designed to serve as guidelines for state legislation to promote health record banks and protect consumers who use them.
September 13, 2010: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to CMS regarding the proposed modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule with three recommendations: 1) Electronic patient records should be available to patients promptly -- typically no more than 48 hours after they are requested; 2) Instances of "review" of such records by providers prior to release should be minimized, and the time for such reviews (when absolutely essential) should be no more than 72 hours; and 3) Patients should have the choice to have their data transmitted by unencrypted email (although HRBA strongly encourages the use of encryption). HRBA also believes that patients should not be charged additional fees for electronic copies of their (already electronic) medical records.
August 31, 2010: Patient Privacy Rights released a white paper entitled "The Case for Informed Consent: Why it is Critical to Honor What Patients Expect– for Health Care, Health IT and Privacy". In it, PPR indicates that "Health record banks or trusts are the simplest and best solution to the challenge of storing and enabling the exchange of data." We are delighted to have this strong endorsement of health record banking from this leading national patient privacy organization.
May 7, 2010: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in response to the proposed "e-Prescribing" regulation. The HRBA response urges DEA to coordinate its provider authentication requirements with other Federal agencies and private entities so that providers can use a single set of credentials for a wide variety of online information systems and transaction types.
March 15, 2010: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to the proposed "Meaningful Use" regulation. The HRBA response emphasizes the central importance of consumers (or whomever they designate as their proxy) being able to send their electronic medical information in standardized form to a recipient of their choice, such as a health record bank, as soon as it is generated.
February 5, 2010: Jim Hansen, CEO of CareEntrust, gave a presentation entitled, "Developing and Executing a Business Plan for Achieving Sustainability for Health Information Exchange" at the National Health Information Exchange Summit in Washington, DC. He discussed how the health record banking approach can be a key element in achieving financial sustainability.
October 29, 2009: Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, gave a presentation at the Southern California Health Care Summit in Ontario, CA.
October 14, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance has submitted comments to the HHS Office of the National Coordinator in response to their "Consumer Preferences Requirements Document." The HRBA response emphasizes the central importance of consumers' control of their own health information, and the ability of health record bank architecture to easily and conveniently implement consumer choices.
October 1, 2009: Perspective: Health Record Banking in an ARRA World. Patty Enrado, editor of the Health IT news portal nhinwatch.com, reports on the ongoing development and implementation of health record banks (HRBs) that is continuing after the passage of the HITECH/ARRA legislation, and how HRBs can be the foundation of health information exchange in communities in support of meaningful use of electronic health records, allowing physicians to qualify for stimulus funds. Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, is quoted extensively.
September 15, 2009: HIMSS/AMDIS podcast on Health Record Banking. Jack Varga, MD, Treasurer of HRBA, gave a podcast interview on health record banking.
August 28, 2009: HRBA sends letters to State Banking Regulators. Today, in a letter to the banking commissioner in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, the Health Record Banking Alliance offered to provide advice and assistance in establishing regulations for health record banks that ensure consumer protection. Each letter included a copy of the HRBA Principles & Fact Sheet, which details the guidelines that HRBA members have agreed to utilize in the operation of health record banks.
August 7, 2009: The cover story of Federal Computer Week, "Is the Nation's Health Network Healthy?", has several quotes from Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, explaining the advantages of health record banks and expressing concern about the feasibility of the "network of networks" approach of the NHIN (Nationwide Health Information Network) as currently
August 3, 2009: In an interview on Federal News Radio, Neville Pattinson, VP of Government Affairs and Business Development, Gemalto North America (an organizational member of HRBA), discussed the need for and importance of smart card authentication, including in the context of accessing and protecting the privacy of health information in patient-controlled health record banks.
June 17, 2009: "Health care records should be user-friendly, patients say", a Federal Computer Week article, describes how patient advocates are encouraging the Obama administration to tailor the regulations relating to the upcoming $18 billion in subsidies for health IT to give patients more power to access and control their own electronic health records by including patient-centric principles in the definition of "meaningful use." It specifically references the Health Record Banking Alliance.
May 19, 2009: (Spokane, WA) “Push for More Patient Control of Health Records”, a news story on NPR Station KPLU, describes the development of health record banks in Washington State and Oregon.
May 6, 2009: HRBA member Patient Command asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to initiate a rulemaking under the HITECH Act (part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) to define interoperability criteria for the Qualified Electronic Health Record. In their letter, also sent to David Blumenthal, MD, HHS National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Patient Command proposed interoperability standards for the Qualified EHRs using existing technology, with the aim of initially defining a Qualified EHR as having the capability to input and output medical record narrative under an XML schema maintained by NIST and based on the Continuity of Care Document (CCD).
April 23, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance is grateful to HIMSS for permission to reproduce and present e-Session 403, "Introduction to Health Record Banking," from the recently concluded 2009 Annual meeting in Chicago. The session, submitted by Drs. Jack Varga and William Yasnoff, is a 20-minute narrated slide show describing the health record banking concept, rationale, operation, and advantages. No special software is needed -- just CLICK HERE and the presentation will run in your browser.April 7, 2009: Dr. Thomas Jones and Mr. Richard Marks gave a presentation entitled "Legal and Clinical Regulation of PHRs: The Current Framework" at the HIMSS Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL (Event #152, 1:00 pm, Convention Center W 190 b). Download presentation slides (ppt)
March 25, 2009: The Louisville Health Information Exchange (LouHIE) has selected 3M Health Information Systems to provide the electronic health record banking system for the greater Louisville area. 3M and its partner, InterComponentWare, Inc. (ICW), will design, build, and pilot an integrated health information network that will offer free health record banking services to all 1.2 million citizens in the greater Louisville community.
March 18, 2009: Local pilot project allows patients to see, update their own medical records online. The local newspaper reports on the community health record bank that just began operations.
March 16, 2009: The State of Washington announced that three Health Record Bank pilots are now operational. The pilots, in Bellingham, Cashmere, and Spokane, were funded in 2008 through the Health Care Authority in collaboration with the Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board (HIIAB). They represent the first consumer-controlled, community-based electronic health record repositories in the nation. Health Record Banks provide consumers with the opportunity to access and fully control copies of their health records held securely on their behalf. See also Health Record Banks Gaining Traction in Regional Projects, State Starts Health Records Bank Pilots, Washington state launches pilot projects for health record bank, and Washington State Launches Pilots To Test Health Record Banks.
February 17, 2009: Perspective: Taking a closer look at health record banks in Washington State and Oregon. Patty Enrado, editor of the Health IT news portal nhinwatch.com, reports on the ongoing health record bank implementation efforts in Washington State and Oregon.
February 2, 2009: Perspective: Health Record Banking Gaining Traction. Patty Enrado, editor of the Health IT news portal nhinwatch.com, reports on the rapidly growing interest in health record banking, including the ongoing development in health record banks in communities across the country.
February 1, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance released its White Paper on Health Record Banking.
January 19, 2009: In a podcast interview for IT Compliance Advisor, William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD, talks about privacy issues related to health IT and how health record banks can address them.
January 15, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance today joined a broad coalition of organizations including the Progressive Policy Institute, American College of Cardiology, Cerner Corporation, Patient Command, National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and the Self-Insurance Institute of America to endorse a pragmatic set of recommendations for requirements and priorities attached to health IT expenditures in the Economic Stimulus bill now being considered by Congress. We recommend that all EHRs be required, at the request of the patient, to produce human-readable text output of that patient's record in XML format either 1) as recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), or 2) using an XML format with a schema that the EHR vendor has filed with NIST. Further, this copy should be available within 24 hours of the request at no charge to the patient.
January 15, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance today joined a broad coalition of organizations including the Progressive Policy Institute, American College of Cardiology, Cerner Corporation, Patient Command, National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and the Self-Insurance Institute of America to endorse a pragmatic set of recommendations for requirements and priorities attached to health IT expenditures in the Economic Stimulus bill now being considered by Congress. We recommend that all EHRs be required, at the request of the patient, to produce human-readable text output of that patient's record in XML format either 1) as recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), or 2) using an XML format with a schema that the EHR vendor has filed with NIST. Further, this copy should be available within 24 hours of the request at no charge to the patient.
For funding directed to health information exchanges, we recommend that priority be given to those projects that pursue and achieve the goals of: 1) making information available 24/7 in XML format from every health care source serving the population of the HIE; 2) including full audit trails in the information available (to facilitate privacy protection); 3) fully and accurately authenticating the identify of all users; 4) serving safety net providers, the underserved, and the disabled; and 5) achieving a sustainable business model.
We believe that adoption of these recommendations will help ensure that health IT funds are productively used to implement systems that will enable third party organizations to act on behalf of patients to assemble a comprehensive copy of their records, while ensuring that patients have control over who has access to which portions of that copy. We urge Congress to incorporate them in the Economic Stimulus bill.
December 19, 2008:In an op-ed in Business Week online entitled "Electronic Records Are Key to Health-Care Reform", William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD, describes how health record banks can solve the problem of making complete patient records available at any point of care and providing EMRs to all physicians while fully protecting individual privacy. He then outlines the policies that the new Obama Administration should adopt to encourage the development of health record banks with only modest new Federal expenditures.
December 18, 2008: HIMSS publishes new book on PHRs featuring the health record bank model. The book, "Personal Health Records: The Essential Missing Element in 21st Century Healthcare," is co-authored by Holly Miller, MD, MBA, William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD (Founder and President of HRBA), and Howard Burde, Esq. Itprovides a comprehensive overview and discussion of the many issues pertaining to the adoption and use of personal health records, with chapters on PHR architecture (including the health record bank model), PHR law, and PHR business sustainability models.
December 6, 2008: President-Elect Obama announces his commitment to universal electronic medical records: "We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year." President-Elect's Weekly Address
December 5, 2008: Drs. Katherine Ball and William Yasnoff gave a presentation entitled "Averting the Collision: Privacy Doctrine & Health Information Exchange" at the eHealth Initiative Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Meeting Agenda.
December 1, 2008: "Wal-Mart Launches E-Health Program", Business Week 8 Dec 2008. Describes Wal-Mart's push to get its employees to sign up for Dossia, the health record bank it sponsors in cooperation with Intel, BP, and other large corporations.
November 20, 2008: Government Health IT Editorial, "Reinstate e-health privacy", by Dr. William Yasnoff explains why the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not really assure privacy.
August 24, 2008: Washington State announces three health record bank pilots.
July 10, 2008: In a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine (extract -- subscription required for complete text), the weakening of privacy that would result from extending HIPAA to personal health records (PHRs) or health record banks is explained. More information.
June 9, 2008: "Medical Records You Can Bank On" in For the Record magazine.
June, 2008: "Banking on Patient Control" in Healthcare Informatics magazine.
May 27, 2008: Journal of AHIMA article, "Who Pays for Health Record Banks?"
May, 2008: Journal of AHIMA cover story, "Taking Medical Records to the Bank"
December 11, 2007: The Health Record Banking Alliance is featured in this article about Dr. Yasnoff in the Wall St. Journal.
November 8, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff gave a talk entitled “Health Record Banks: empowering Consumers to Control Their Own Information“ at the Consumer-Centric healthcare Congress in Washington DC.
October 26, 2007: Today a report strongly advocating health record banks entitled “Improving Health Care: Why a Dose of IT May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered” (overview) was released by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. It was presented at a National Press Club event that included remarks from Health IT Now! Co-chair, former Congresswoman Nancy Johnson. Additional information.
June 1, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff presented " A Feasible Path to Sustainable Community Health Information Infrastructure" at the Northeast Florida Health Information Initiative Summit in Jacksonville, FL.
April 20, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff gave the keynote entitled “A Feasible Path to Sustainable Community Health Information Infrastructure“ at the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) meeting in Jacksonville, FL.
March 22, 2007: Need for health information infrastructure for biosurveillance highlighted. In an article entitled "Biosurveillance Evolution" in Health Data Management, the importance of a national health information infrastructure to provide the data needed by public health agencies for early detection of outbreaks and other adverse population health events is described. The article includes several quotes from an interview with Dr. William Yasnoff.
March 22, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff to keynote Health Data Management's Clinical Automation Summit to be held Sept. 17-18 in suburban Chicago.
March 7, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff to keynote Health Data Management's Dr. William Yasnoff discusses health record banks in an interview with Dr. Ron Pion on BigMediaUSA.com Rx Radio: Your Prescription for Health. Available for listening or download.
March 3, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff to keynote Health Data Management's Dr. William Yasnoff answers questions about health record banks in an interview with HIMSS Insider.
February 28, 2007: The Health Record Banking Alliance (HRBA) met in conjunction with the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference in New Orleans. If you would like to receive ongoing announcements related to future HRBA meetings and activities, go to the "Join and Log In" page, click on "Join HRBA" and follow the instructions to enter your contact information.
February 18, 2007: In a New York Times article entitled "Warnings Over Privacy of U.S. Health Network," Dr. William Yasnoff comments on the need for increased privacy protection as a prerequisite to successful health information infrastructure. The health record banking legislation from the last session of Congress is also mentioned.
February 14, 2007: William Yasnoff suggests health record bank for Wisconsin in an
interview with the Wisconsin Technology Network.
February 2, 2007: Consumers key to Health IT progress: Article in HIT News has information about the new version of the Independent Health Record Bank bill.
December 22,2006: Consumers key to Health IT progress: UK adopts patient consent for access to electronic health records as a key principle. See "Sharing e-health info requires patient consent". This is the central principle of health record banking.
December 19,2006: Washington State Governor requests $9 million for Health Information Infrastructure. Today Governor Gregoire of Washington released her proposed budget for the 2007-09 biennium. Included in the proposal is $9 million for health information technology, supporting the recommendations in the report submitted on December 1st (see earlier news item). The breakdown of the $9 million includes:
• $8 million for the design and implementation of the health information infrastructure and the pilot health record banks, and
• $1 million for the Washington Health Information Collaborative award program assisting providers in the adoption and use of health information technology system.
Inclusion in the proposal doesn’t mean the budgeted amount has been approved or funded. Further information is available at the Governor’s Web site detailing her budget proposals for health care. The reference to health information technology is mentioned on page 3.
December 19,2006: It's Round Two for e-Health records bank bills. Health record bank bills to be introduced in next Congress.
December 18,2006: Washington State Unveils Its Health Information Infrastructure Roadmap. NHINwatch describes the recently released report from Washington State.
December 1,2006: Washington State Report Recommends Health Record Banks.
After a 16-month process of study and review, the Washington State Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board (HIIAB) (created by the Legislature) has released its report recommending the development of multiple Health Record Banks with some financial assistance from the State. The report has an extensive review of the background, current status, and available options for implementing health information infrastructure. It concludes by recommending an incremental and achievable path towards an effective health information infrastructure in Washington State using Health Record Banks containing consumer-controlled copies of health records from multiple sources. Participation in the system by consumers would be voluntary. Dr. William Yasnoff served as the project consultant to the HIIAB.
November 30,2006: Louisville Moving Ahead with Health Record Bank. In Louisville, KY, a community-wide forumof key healthcare stakeholders is being convened by the Mayor on 12/5/06 to begin the process of establishing a Health Record Bank. The goal is to improve quality and safety of health care, and reduce costs by as much as $100 million annually. The Louisville Health Information Exchanges (LouHIE) hopes to enroll 300,000 to 500,000 people in the system, which will be developed in 2007 and is anticipated to be operational by 2008. Patients would both have access to their records and fully control their use.
November 18,2006: Dr. William Yasnoff gave a plenary presentation at the Annual Meeting of the National Foundation of Women Legislators in Avon, Colorado (more information).
November 9,2006: Dr. William Yasnoff, founder and ceo of HRBA, gave a panel presentation at the Consumer-Centric Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C.
October 8,2006: Dr. William Yasnoff, founder and ceo of HRBA, gave a presentation on health record banking at the Cerner Healthcare Leadership Forum in Orlando (conference home page and agenda available).
September 29,2006: Stakeholder meeting in Seattle, WA, discussing Washington State proposal for health record banking. Dr. William Yasnoff joins staff of the Washington State Health Care Authority to discuss the draft recommendations of the Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board (audio/video presentation - requires Windows Media Player). The final report of the HIIAB will be released 12/1/06. More information on the process is available.
September 21,2006: Initial meeting of Health Record Banking Coalition reported in Healthcare IT News.
September 21,2006: HHS Urged to consider Health Record Banking - In today's report of the appointment of a new interim National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in Healthcare IT News, Dr. William Yasnoff urges HHS to adopt health record banking model.
July 24,2006: Response of the Health Record Banking Alliance to HHS RFI on Voluntary Storage of Personal Information in Preparation for Emergencies - In this response, the health record banking approach combined with the eHealthTrust business model is described in detail. Fourteen references are included.
May 28, 2015: New think tank report supports Health Record Banking. In a new report from the Third Way think tank entitled, "A Lifetime Electronic Health Record for Every American", the authors (including HRBA Advisory Board member David Kendall) argue that every American should have a longitudinal health record, and that health record banks can accomplish this.
December 6, 2014: Former ONC Director David Blumenthal, MD, supports patient ownership of medical records. In an article in General Internal Medicine entitled " Patients Control of their EHR Data", former ONC Director David Blumenthal and his co-authors argue that patients should own and control their health records.
August 3, 2014: The Health Record Banking Alliance responded to an RFI about EHRs and Interoperability from DoD. In the response, the need for and advantages of health record banking are described in detail.
June 6, 2013: Dr. William Yasnoff is featured in an article entitled "Is Now the Time for Health Record Banks?". In the article, the current failure of health information exchanges (HIEs) is described as well as the potential to transform these efforts into a successful health information infrastructure with health record banks. Dr. Yasnoff will be giving a presentation detailing his vision for health record banks at the upcoming Digital Healthcare Conference on June 10th in Madison, WI.
May 30, 2013: The Health Record Banking Alliance is pleased to announce that Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD, FACMI, has been elected Chair of our Advisory Board. Dr. Shortliffe is an internationally recognized leader and pioneer in biomedical informatics and the 2006 recipient of the Morris F. Collen Award, the highest honor for lifetime achievement in the field. Early in his career, his groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence earned him the Grace Murray Hopper Award from the Association for Computing Machinery. He currently serves on the faculty at the University of Arizona and Columbia University, and is also former President and CEO of the American Medical Informatics Association. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the widely used textbook Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Healthcare and Medicine and the Journal of Biomedical Informatics. Most importantly, he has been an active advocate for effective health information infrastructure since the late 1980s. HRBA is delighted to have the benefit of his leadership.
May 13, 2013: Today the Health Record Banking Alliance responded to the recent White Paper entitled, "Reboot: Re-examining the Strategies Needed to Successfully Adopt Health IT" released on 4/16/13 by Senators Thune, Alexander, Roberts, Burr, Coburn, and Enzi. Our response endorses the comments of Patient Command, Inc., submitted by Richard Marks (Vice President of HRBA). The Patient Command comments emphasize the failure of ONC to address and specify interoperability standards as a key root cause of the lack of progress now apparent in our health information infrastructure development efforts. In addition, both the Patient Command comments and the HRBA response cite the negative impact of ONC's pursuit of the misguided "institution-centric" or "provider-query" architecture instead of the more effective and immediately feasible patient-centric health record banking approach that compiles each person's comprehensive health records in an account controlled by that person. Health record banking solves the problems of privacy (with patient control), stakeholder cooperation (because the patients request their own records, the HIPAA regulations require every stakeholder to provide them electronically if available in that form), and financial sustainability (with revenue generated from optional applications for patients and research use of the data with permission) that have stymied prior efforts. HRBA looks forward to bipartisan action leading to a redirection of our nation's health information infrastructure development towards this feasible and sustainable model.
April 22, 2013: HRBA submitted comments in response to the the CMS-ONC RFI, "Advancing Interoperability and Health Information Exchange." HRBA recommended that CMS and ONC: 1. Finalize the draft regulations that allow patients to request and directly receive their lab results in electronic form. This will promote patients’ access to and control of this critical information. 2. Allocate at least $50 million to competitively fund at least three large-scale health record bank (HRB) demonstration projects. Properly structured, such projects could be fully functional within six months after initiation. 3. Provide assistance to existing health information exchanges (HIEs) to convert into HRBs, which requires: 1) engagement with consumers; 2) development of value-added services for consumers; and 3) organizational realignment to ensure consumer trust. A collaborative effort to address these issues among HIEs could rapidly lead to effective transitional strategies.
April 10, 2013: An interview with Dr. William Yasnoff, President of the HRBA, for the Patients Know Best blog was posted regarding the future of health information infrastructure. In it, Dr. Yasnoff describes in detail how the health record banking approach, incorporating community repositories of comprehensive electronic patient records with access controlled by patients, solves the key problems of privacy, stakeholder cooperation, electronic standardized information, and financial sustainability that have been problematic in current efforts.
April 8, 2013: Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, was quoted responding to the latest grants from ONC to promote HIE Governance. He indicated that ONC's latest efforts are misguided as long as patients do not control their own data. He urged ONC to adopt the health record banking approach incorporating community repositories of electronic patient records with access controlled by patients to ensure the availability of comprehensive patient information when and where needed.
March 12, 2013: The Journal of the AMA published a Viewpoint advocating health record banks entitled, "Putting Health IT on the Path to Success." Authored by HRBA President William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD, and HRBA Advisory Board members Latanya Sweeney, PhD, and Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD, the article highlights the growing and consistent published evidence of the failure of the current approach to health information exchange (HIE) that leaves patients' electronic medical records where they happen to be created. It goes on to list the reasons why this "scattered" record architecture can never be successful. Finally, the Viewpoint urges physicians to support health record banking, which solves the problems of privacy, stakeholder cooperation, and financial sustainability that have stymied current HIE efforts through the implementation of patient-controlled, community-based repositories of electronic medical records (as described in detail in the HRBA Architecture and Business Model white papers).
January 6, 2013: The Health Record Banking Alliance has submitted comments Comments on MU Stage 3 NPRM to ONC in response to the NPRM for Meaningful Use Stage 3. In the comments, the HRBA strongly urges ONC to eliminate the proposed requirement that all EHRs be able to respond to queries from other EHRs to retrieve patient data (IEWG 101), describing it as "unwise and wasteful" since such a requirement is unnecessary, infeasible, and burdensome. In addition, HRBA recommended that ONC: 1) Eliminate the Provider Directory query for EHR Certification (IEWG 102); 2) Eliminate the Clinical Trial query for EHR Certification (SGRP 209); 3) Simplify patient consent implementation using the HRB architecture (MU04); and 4) Simplify information sharing and additional applications using the HRB architecture (MU05).
January 4, 2013: The Health Record Banking Alliance has released a white paper on architecture for health information exchange. It describes in detail how health record banks, patient-controlled repositories of electronic health records, can provide a fully capable health information infrastructure for the nation that is simpler, less expensive, more secure, and can provide lifetime patient records. An infrastructure comprised of health record banks can meet the key requirements of comprehensive electronic patient information when and where needed, protection of privacy with dynamic patient access control, and financial sustainability.
December 12, 2012: The Health Record Banking Alliance has released a white paper on business models for health information exchange. It describes in detail how health record banks, patient-controlled repositories of electronic health records, facilitate a variety of feasible business models for health information sharing. Health record banks can be the basis for feasible and sustainable health information infrastructure, and represent a viable alternative architecture for HIEs across the nation struggling to implement systems that can provide comprehensive electronic patient information when and where needed with a viable financial model.
December 10, 2012: A paper published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics shows that the "scattered" architecture for electronic medical records, which leaves the records where they happen to be created, results in exponentially more transactions and is exponentially more likely to result in incomplete patient records compared to a central repository (like health record banks). The paper describes simulations of both architectures under various conditions and concludes that "the distributed model scaled poorly in terms of data availability and integrity with a higher failure rate when compared to the centralized model of data storage." [Lapsia V, Lamb K, and Yasnoff W (2012): Where should electronic records for patients be stored? Int J of Med Informatics 81:821-827]
August 14, 2012: Patient Control Reduces Privacy Issues for Health Data Sharing Networks. Wake Forest School of Medicine researchers built an open-source prototype of a medical image sharing network that allowed patients to control their health data. Their study finds that the network reduced concerns about data privacy and security. FierceHealthIT, CMIO. © 2012 California HealthCare Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
June 26, 2012: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to ONC in response to its Governance RFI, highlighting three major concerns: 1) Vision of the operational NwHIN is not clear. HRBA urged ONC to convene appropriate experts and stakeholders to define what the overall NwHIN architecture should be, with the goal of creating a detailed operational blueprint that explains how each person’s comprehensive electronic medical records will be available when and where needed; 2) Architecture is needed before regulation. ONC’s focus on exchange (the mechanism) vs. availability of comprehensive electronic patient records (the goal) is leading to unnecessary and unproductive issues; and 3) Health Record Banks are not considered in the governance model, even though they provide a workable architecture and simplify regulation. In addition, HRBA expressed strong opposition to the idea of limiting health information exchange to 501(c)(3) non-profit entities, citing both the lack of evidence for improved outcomes from this type of organization, and the resultant severe limitations this would impose on private sector efforts to raise capital for these activities.
June 13, 2012: A new health reform in Australia goes into effect on July 1st. A vast electronic database will store the personal health records of all Australians who choose to opt into it. http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3524583.htm
June 13, 2012: The Health Record Banking Alliance has been asking ONC/HHS to issue an open letter to providers clarifying their existing legal obligation to provide health records in electronic form in response to requests from consumers. We are pleased to report that the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is responsible for HIPAA enforcement, recently issued an open letter to consumers related to this issue: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/righttoaccessmemo.pdf While this is not exactly what we requested, it is very close and goes a long way to achieving our goals. This letter can be shared with any providers who are balking at supplying records in response to patient requests. We look forward to further cooperation from HHS as we work collaboratively to remove obstacles to the development and operation of health record banks.
May 4, 2012: Today, the Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to CMS on the Meaningful Use Stage 2 NPRM, focused exclusively on the “download and transmit” requirement. In summary, HRBA recommended that:
- The “download and transmit” requirements should include the ability of patients to designate the ongoing recipient of their information just once in a “standing request” with providers;
- The information should be transmitted in a standard, encoded form with Direct as one of the options (that can be designated by the patient); and
- As an interim step prior to the initiation of this new requirement, HHS should immediately issue an open letter to providers from the Secretary reminding them of their current obligation under HIPAA to provide records in electronic form on patient request.
April 25, 2012: HRBA has been designated as a Privacy by Design "Ambassador" organization by the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada. This designation confirms our alignment with and support of Privacy by Design principles and represents the gold standard of commitment to the protection of client personal information.
April 17, 2012: Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, described the imminent launch of a health record bank by the Data Privacy Lab at Harvard University today. The project, known as MyDataCan (www.mydatacan.org), will allow anyone to establish a free HRB account. Data is double encrypted, like a safe deposit box, so all access is controlled by the account holder. This is the first time that a major academic institution has hosted an HRB.
February 20, 2012: Health Record Banking Alliance Announces National Advisory Board. Click here for press release.
February 7, 2012: National Experts to Meet at HIMSS to Promote Health Record Banks. In a guest column posted today at NHINWatch, Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, explains how health record banks (HRBs) can successfully address the three key challenges of health information infrastructure in communities (privacy, stakeholder participation, and financial sustainability) and describes the inaugural meeting of the HRBA Advisory Board at the upcoming HIMSS 2012 to discuss strategies to promote and accelerate development and adoption of HRBs.October 19, 2011: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services on the proposed rule to modify the CLIA program and the HIPAA privacy rule to improve patient access to laboratory test reports. The HRBA response emphasizes the central importance of consumers' control of their own health information, and the ability of health record bank architecture to securely and conveniently transfer lab results.
September 20, 2011: In a guest column for NHINWatch, Dr. William Yasnoff, President of the Health Record Banking Alliance, explains why health record banks are needed to successfully solve the health information technology problem for the nation.
September 9, 2011: Today the Health Record Banking Alliance joined the first group of organizations signing ONC's Consumer Health Pledge. As a supporter of consumer-controlled electronic health records since 2006, HRBA welcomes the attention of ONC to promoting progress in getting patients their electronic health information.
August 18, 2011: The Australian government announced the awarding of a $450+ million contract to provide a health record bank account to all residents by mid-2012. This initiative, known as the Personally-Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) is a key part of Australia’s 2011-12 health information infrastructure strategic plan.
December 24, 2010: The Health Record Banking Alliance has developed State Legislative Principles for regulation of Health Record Banks. These principles, offered in the absence of existing comprehensive federal legislation, are designed to serve as guidelines for state legislation to promote health record banks and protect consumers who use them.
September 13, 2010: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to CMS regarding the proposed modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule with three recommendations: 1) Electronic patient records should be available to patients promptly -- typically no more than 48 hours after they are requested; 2) Instances of "review" of such records by providers prior to release should be minimized, and the time for such reviews (when absolutely essential) should be no more than 72 hours; and 3) Patients should have the choice to have their data transmitted by unencrypted email (although HRBA strongly encourages the use of encryption). HRBA also believes that patients should not be charged additional fees for electronic copies of their (already electronic) medical records.
August 31, 2010: Patient Privacy Rights released a white paper entitled "The Case for Informed Consent: Why it is Critical to Honor What Patients Expect– for Health Care, Health IT and Privacy". In it, PPR indicates that "Health record banks or trusts are the simplest and best solution to the challenge of storing and enabling the exchange of data." We are delighted to have this strong endorsement of health record banking from this leading national patient privacy organization.
May 7, 2010: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in response to the proposed "e-Prescribing" regulation. The HRBA response urges DEA to coordinate its provider authentication requirements with other Federal agencies and private entities so that providers can use a single set of credentials for a wide variety of online information systems and transaction types.
March 15, 2010: The Health Record Banking Alliance submitted comments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to the proposed "Meaningful Use" regulation. The HRBA response emphasizes the central importance of consumers (or whomever they designate as their proxy) being able to send their electronic medical information in standardized form to a recipient of their choice, such as a health record bank, as soon as it is generated.
February 5, 2010: Jim Hansen, CEO of CareEntrust, gave a presentation entitled, "Developing and Executing a Business Plan for Achieving Sustainability for Health Information Exchange" at the National Health Information Exchange Summit in Washington, DC. He discussed how the health record banking approach can be a key element in achieving financial sustainability.
October 29, 2009: Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, gave a presentation at the Southern California Health Care Summit in Ontario, CA.
October 14, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance has submitted comments to the HHS Office of the National Coordinator in response to their "Consumer Preferences Requirements Document." The HRBA response emphasizes the central importance of consumers' control of their own health information, and the ability of health record bank architecture to easily and conveniently implement consumer choices.
October 1, 2009: Perspective: Health Record Banking in an ARRA World. Patty Enrado, editor of the Health IT news portal nhinwatch.com, reports on the ongoing development and implementation of health record banks (HRBs) that is continuing after the passage of the HITECH/ARRA legislation, and how HRBs can be the foundation of health information exchange in communities in support of meaningful use of electronic health records, allowing physicians to qualify for stimulus funds. Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, is quoted extensively.
September 15, 2009: HIMSS/AMDIS podcast on Health Record Banking. Jack Varga, MD, Treasurer of HRBA, gave a podcast interview on health record banking.
August 28, 2009: HRBA sends letters to State Banking Regulators. Today, in a letter to the banking commissioner in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, the Health Record Banking Alliance offered to provide advice and assistance in establishing regulations for health record banks that ensure consumer protection. Each letter included a copy of the HRBA Principles & Fact Sheet, which details the guidelines that HRBA members have agreed to utilize in the operation of health record banks.
August 7, 2009: The cover story of Federal Computer Week, "Is the Nation's Health Network Healthy?", has several quotes from Dr. William Yasnoff, President of HRBA, explaining the advantages of health record banks and expressing concern about the feasibility of the "network of networks" approach of the NHIN (Nationwide Health Information Network) as currently
August 3, 2009: In an interview on Federal News Radio, Neville Pattinson, VP of Government Affairs and Business Development, Gemalto North America (an organizational member of HRBA), discussed the need for and importance of smart card authentication, including in the context of accessing and protecting the privacy of health information in patient-controlled health record banks.
June 17, 2009: "Health care records should be user-friendly, patients say", a Federal Computer Week article, describes how patient advocates are encouraging the Obama administration to tailor the regulations relating to the upcoming $18 billion in subsidies for health IT to give patients more power to access and control their own electronic health records by including patient-centric principles in the definition of "meaningful use." It specifically references the Health Record Banking Alliance.
May 19, 2009: (Spokane, WA) “Push for More Patient Control of Health Records”, a news story on NPR Station KPLU, describes the development of health record banks in Washington State and Oregon.
May 6, 2009: HRBA member Patient Command asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to initiate a rulemaking under the HITECH Act (part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) to define interoperability criteria for the Qualified Electronic Health Record. In their letter, also sent to David Blumenthal, MD, HHS National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Patient Command proposed interoperability standards for the Qualified EHRs using existing technology, with the aim of initially defining a Qualified EHR as having the capability to input and output medical record narrative under an XML schema maintained by NIST and based on the Continuity of Care Document (CCD).
April 23, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance is grateful to HIMSS for permission to reproduce and present e-Session 403, "Introduction to Health Record Banking," from the recently concluded 2009 Annual meeting in Chicago. The session, submitted by Drs. Jack Varga and William Yasnoff, is a 20-minute narrated slide show describing the health record banking concept, rationale, operation, and advantages. No special software is needed -- just CLICK HERE and the presentation will run in your browser.April 7, 2009: Dr. Thomas Jones and Mr. Richard Marks gave a presentation entitled "Legal and Clinical Regulation of PHRs: The Current Framework" at the HIMSS Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL (Event #152, 1:00 pm, Convention Center W 190 b). Download presentation slides (ppt)
March 25, 2009: The Louisville Health Information Exchange (LouHIE) has selected 3M Health Information Systems to provide the electronic health record banking system for the greater Louisville area. 3M and its partner, InterComponentWare, Inc. (ICW), will design, build, and pilot an integrated health information network that will offer free health record banking services to all 1.2 million citizens in the greater Louisville community.
March 18, 2009: Local pilot project allows patients to see, update their own medical records online. The local newspaper reports on the community health record bank that just began operations.
March 16, 2009: The State of Washington announced that three Health Record Bank pilots are now operational. The pilots, in Bellingham, Cashmere, and Spokane, were funded in 2008 through the Health Care Authority in collaboration with the Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board (HIIAB). They represent the first consumer-controlled, community-based electronic health record repositories in the nation. Health Record Banks provide consumers with the opportunity to access and fully control copies of their health records held securely on their behalf. See also Health Record Banks Gaining Traction in Regional Projects, State Starts Health Records Bank Pilots, Washington state launches pilot projects for health record bank, and Washington State Launches Pilots To Test Health Record Banks.
February 17, 2009: Perspective: Taking a closer look at health record banks in Washington State and Oregon. Patty Enrado, editor of the Health IT news portal nhinwatch.com, reports on the ongoing health record bank implementation efforts in Washington State and Oregon.
February 2, 2009: Perspective: Health Record Banking Gaining Traction. Patty Enrado, editor of the Health IT news portal nhinwatch.com, reports on the rapidly growing interest in health record banking, including the ongoing development in health record banks in communities across the country.
February 1, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance released its White Paper on Health Record Banking.
January 19, 2009: In a podcast interview for IT Compliance Advisor, William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD, talks about privacy issues related to health IT and how health record banks can address them.
January 15, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance today joined a broad coalition of organizations including the Progressive Policy Institute, American College of Cardiology, Cerner Corporation, Patient Command, National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and the Self-Insurance Institute of America to endorse a pragmatic set of recommendations for requirements and priorities attached to health IT expenditures in the Economic Stimulus bill now being considered by Congress. We recommend that all EHRs be required, at the request of the patient, to produce human-readable text output of that patient's record in XML format either 1) as recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), or 2) using an XML format with a schema that the EHR vendor has filed with NIST. Further, this copy should be available within 24 hours of the request at no charge to the patient.
January 15, 2009: The Health Record Banking Alliance today joined a broad coalition of organizations including the Progressive Policy Institute, American College of Cardiology, Cerner Corporation, Patient Command, National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and the Self-Insurance Institute of America to endorse a pragmatic set of recommendations for requirements and priorities attached to health IT expenditures in the Economic Stimulus bill now being considered by Congress. We recommend that all EHRs be required, at the request of the patient, to produce human-readable text output of that patient's record in XML format either 1) as recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), or 2) using an XML format with a schema that the EHR vendor has filed with NIST. Further, this copy should be available within 24 hours of the request at no charge to the patient.
For funding directed to health information exchanges, we recommend that priority be given to those projects that pursue and achieve the goals of: 1) making information available 24/7 in XML format from every health care source serving the population of the HIE; 2) including full audit trails in the information available (to facilitate privacy protection); 3) fully and accurately authenticating the identify of all users; 4) serving safety net providers, the underserved, and the disabled; and 5) achieving a sustainable business model.
We believe that adoption of these recommendations will help ensure that health IT funds are productively used to implement systems that will enable third party organizations to act on behalf of patients to assemble a comprehensive copy of their records, while ensuring that patients have control over who has access to which portions of that copy. We urge Congress to incorporate them in the Economic Stimulus bill.
December 19, 2008:In an op-ed in Business Week online entitled "Electronic Records Are Key to Health-Care Reform", William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD, describes how health record banks can solve the problem of making complete patient records available at any point of care and providing EMRs to all physicians while fully protecting individual privacy. He then outlines the policies that the new Obama Administration should adopt to encourage the development of health record banks with only modest new Federal expenditures.
December 18, 2008: HIMSS publishes new book on PHRs featuring the health record bank model. The book, "Personal Health Records: The Essential Missing Element in 21st Century Healthcare," is co-authored by Holly Miller, MD, MBA, William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD (Founder and President of HRBA), and Howard Burde, Esq. Itprovides a comprehensive overview and discussion of the many issues pertaining to the adoption and use of personal health records, with chapters on PHR architecture (including the health record bank model), PHR law, and PHR business sustainability models.
December 6, 2008: President-Elect Obama announces his commitment to universal electronic medical records: "We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year." President-Elect's Weekly Address
December 5, 2008: Drs. Katherine Ball and William Yasnoff gave a presentation entitled "Averting the Collision: Privacy Doctrine & Health Information Exchange" at the eHealth Initiative Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Meeting Agenda.
December 1, 2008: "Wal-Mart Launches E-Health Program", Business Week 8 Dec 2008. Describes Wal-Mart's push to get its employees to sign up for Dossia, the health record bank it sponsors in cooperation with Intel, BP, and other large corporations.
November 20, 2008: Government Health IT Editorial, "Reinstate e-health privacy", by Dr. William Yasnoff explains why the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not really assure privacy.
August 24, 2008: Washington State announces three health record bank pilots.
July 10, 2008: In a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine (extract -- subscription required for complete text), the weakening of privacy that would result from extending HIPAA to personal health records (PHRs) or health record banks is explained. More information.
June 9, 2008: "Medical Records You Can Bank On" in For the Record magazine.
June, 2008: "Banking on Patient Control" in Healthcare Informatics magazine.
May 27, 2008: Journal of AHIMA article, "Who Pays for Health Record Banks?"
May, 2008: Journal of AHIMA cover story, "Taking Medical Records to the Bank"
December 11, 2007: The Health Record Banking Alliance is featured in this article about Dr. Yasnoff in the Wall St. Journal.
November 8, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff gave a talk entitled “Health Record Banks: empowering Consumers to Control Their Own Information“ at the Consumer-Centric healthcare Congress in Washington DC.
October 26, 2007: Today a report strongly advocating health record banks entitled “Improving Health Care: Why a Dose of IT May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered” (overview) was released by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. It was presented at a National Press Club event that included remarks from Health IT Now! Co-chair, former Congresswoman Nancy Johnson. Additional information.
June 1, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff presented " A Feasible Path to Sustainable Community Health Information Infrastructure" at the Northeast Florida Health Information Initiative Summit in Jacksonville, FL.
April 20, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff gave the keynote entitled “A Feasible Path to Sustainable Community Health Information Infrastructure“ at the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) meeting in Jacksonville, FL.
March 22, 2007: Need for health information infrastructure for biosurveillance highlighted. In an article entitled "Biosurveillance Evolution" in Health Data Management, the importance of a national health information infrastructure to provide the data needed by public health agencies for early detection of outbreaks and other adverse population health events is described. The article includes several quotes from an interview with Dr. William Yasnoff.
March 22, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff to keynote Health Data Management's Clinical Automation Summit to be held Sept. 17-18 in suburban Chicago.
March 7, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff to keynote Health Data Management's Dr. William Yasnoff discusses health record banks in an interview with Dr. Ron Pion on BigMediaUSA.com Rx Radio: Your Prescription for Health. Available for listening or download.
March 3, 2007: Dr. William Yasnoff to keynote Health Data Management's Dr. William Yasnoff answers questions about health record banks in an interview with HIMSS Insider.
February 28, 2007: The Health Record Banking Alliance (HRBA) met in conjunction with the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference in New Orleans. If you would like to receive ongoing announcements related to future HRBA meetings and activities, go to the "Join and Log In" page, click on "Join HRBA" and follow the instructions to enter your contact information.
February 18, 2007: In a New York Times article entitled "Warnings Over Privacy of U.S. Health Network," Dr. William Yasnoff comments on the need for increased privacy protection as a prerequisite to successful health information infrastructure. The health record banking legislation from the last session of Congress is also mentioned.
February 14, 2007: William Yasnoff suggests health record bank for Wisconsin in an
interview with the Wisconsin Technology Network.
February 2, 2007: Consumers key to Health IT progress: Article in HIT News has information about the new version of the Independent Health Record Bank bill.
December 22,2006: Consumers key to Health IT progress: UK adopts patient consent for access to electronic health records as a key principle. See "Sharing e-health info requires patient consent". This is the central principle of health record banking.
December 19,2006: Washington State Governor requests $9 million for Health Information Infrastructure. Today Governor Gregoire of Washington released her proposed budget for the 2007-09 biennium. Included in the proposal is $9 million for health information technology, supporting the recommendations in the report submitted on December 1st (see earlier news item). The breakdown of the $9 million includes:
• $8 million for the design and implementation of the health information infrastructure and the pilot health record banks, and
• $1 million for the Washington Health Information Collaborative award program assisting providers in the adoption and use of health information technology system.
Inclusion in the proposal doesn’t mean the budgeted amount has been approved or funded. Further information is available at the Governor’s Web site detailing her budget proposals for health care. The reference to health information technology is mentioned on page 3.
December 19,2006: It's Round Two for e-Health records bank bills. Health record bank bills to be introduced in next Congress.
December 18,2006: Washington State Unveils Its Health Information Infrastructure Roadmap. NHINwatch describes the recently released report from Washington State.
December 1,2006: Washington State Report Recommends Health Record Banks.
After a 16-month process of study and review, the Washington State Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board (HIIAB) (created by the Legislature) has released its report recommending the development of multiple Health Record Banks with some financial assistance from the State. The report has an extensive review of the background, current status, and available options for implementing health information infrastructure. It concludes by recommending an incremental and achievable path towards an effective health information infrastructure in Washington State using Health Record Banks containing consumer-controlled copies of health records from multiple sources. Participation in the system by consumers would be voluntary. Dr. William Yasnoff served as the project consultant to the HIIAB.
November 30,2006: Louisville Moving Ahead with Health Record Bank. In Louisville, KY, a community-wide forumof key healthcare stakeholders is being convened by the Mayor on 12/5/06 to begin the process of establishing a Health Record Bank. The goal is to improve quality and safety of health care, and reduce costs by as much as $100 million annually. The Louisville Health Information Exchanges (LouHIE) hopes to enroll 300,000 to 500,000 people in the system, which will be developed in 2007 and is anticipated to be operational by 2008. Patients would both have access to their records and fully control their use.
November 18,2006: Dr. William Yasnoff gave a plenary presentation at the Annual Meeting of the National Foundation of Women Legislators in Avon, Colorado (more information).
November 9,2006: Dr. William Yasnoff, founder and ceo of HRBA, gave a panel presentation at the Consumer-Centric Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C.
October 8,2006: Dr. William Yasnoff, founder and ceo of HRBA, gave a presentation on health record banking at the Cerner Healthcare Leadership Forum in Orlando (conference home page and agenda available).
September 29,2006: Stakeholder meeting in Seattle, WA, discussing Washington State proposal for health record banking. Dr. William Yasnoff joins staff of the Washington State Health Care Authority to discuss the draft recommendations of the Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board (audio/video presentation - requires Windows Media Player). The final report of the HIIAB will be released 12/1/06. More information on the process is available.
September 21,2006: Initial meeting of Health Record Banking Coalition reported in Healthcare IT News.
September 21,2006: HHS Urged to consider Health Record Banking - In today's report of the appointment of a new interim National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in Healthcare IT News, Dr. William Yasnoff urges HHS to adopt health record banking model.
July 24,2006: Response of the Health Record Banking Alliance to HHS RFI on Voluntary Storage of Personal Information in Preparation for Emergencies - In this response, the health record banking approach combined with the eHealthTrust business model is described in detail. Fourteen references are included.
