State to Test Health Records Banks

HDM Breaking News, August 21, 2008

The State of Washington will offer health record bank accounts to 18,000 residents of three communities under a pilot program starting in 2009.

Authorized by legislation enacted in 2005 and 2007 to improve health care information sharing, the Washington State Health Care Authority has awarded grants totaling $1.7 million to launch the pilots. Grant recipients are Spokane-based Inland Northwest Health Services, Cashmere-based Choice Healthcare Network, and Bellingham-based St. Joseph Hospital Foundation and The Critical Junctures Institute.

Each pilot project is a private-public partnership under which a trusted entity serves as a health records bank. Under the model, a health records bank model collects a patient’s paper and electronic medical records from physicians, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and other sources. Patients have control over who accesses their data. A health records bank is funded through account fees charged to individuals or sponsorships.

In the Washington pilots, Google Health will partner with Inland Northwest Health Services and Community Choice Healthcare Network, and Microsoft HealthVault will partner with St. Joseph Hospital Foundation and the Critical Junctures Institute.

To date, few communities have embraced the health records bank concept, but there are some attempts to adopt the model. The Louisville (Ky.) Health Information Exchange has adopted health records banks as its model for transmitting health information across a community. To fund the effort, the organization will seek grants and solicit donations from participating providers, payers and other organizations, as well as consumers.

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:

• Consumer Health
• Electronic Health Records
• Health Information Exchange
• Policies/Regulation
• Hospitals
• Group Practices
• Payers