A multi-state collaborative seeking ways to align its health information privacy rules to make it easier to share data across health information exchanges is aiming for a demonstration law that states could use as a model in 2009.
The target for the Harmonizing State Privacy Law Collaborative (HSPLC) this year is to develop a set of priority recommendations for reforming state laws, with the goal of producing a 2009 demonstration law, officials said.
The HSPLC is a working group operating under the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC), a project sponsored by the Health and Human Services Department to investigate ways of dealing with privacy and security issues associated with HIEs.
“Federal solutions [for inter-state privacy] are not inevitable, despite some good proposals,” said Carolyn Turner, a contract manager with Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, and a HISPC project manager. “And there are still issues at the state level” that need to be addressed.
Speaking on a recent Web seminar on the work being done by the HISPC, Turner said Florida has begun to take information learned from working with other states in the HSPLC ,and is working toward common privacy solutions and goals.
The biggest challenge to the multi-state collaborative so far is largely the organizations, Turner said, and the time frame in which to accomplish its goals. But the organization is confident it can reach both challenges, she said.
Along with Florida, members of the HSPLC are Michigan, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas.
Government Health IT will present Liesa Jo Jenkins, executive director of CareSpark, in an eSeminar at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, where she will share her experiences and insight into building a health information exchange that enhances community health, rewards regional collaboration and drives economic progress.
