US group targets '09 for e-health data standards
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The Health Information Trust Alliance (Hitrust) is the name of a new consortium set up in the US by healthcare companies, providers and health insurers to look at ways of protecting the data held in patients' e-health records. The problem has arisen as healthcare companies cannot guarantee how the data that they hold on patients will be handled once third parties - commercial or otherwise - access these data. And as companies are legally bound to treat such patient information securely, they must currently audit the data protection practices of each organisation that they do business with. This time-consuming, but necessary, to ensure there is no potential for misuse.