RAND Study Evaluates Personal Health ID System

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Creating an exclusive health
identification number for every American would reduce medical
errors, speed the use of electronic medical records, increase
overall efficiency and help protect patient privacy, according to a
new RAND Corp. study.

The study, released Oct. 20, says setting up such a system
carries an $11 billion price tag but would result in savings up to
$77 billion, reaped by easing health care processes and reducing
repetitive and unneeded care.

“Establishing a system of unique patient identification numbers
would help the nation to enjoy the full benefits of electronic
medical records and improve the quality of medical care,” said
Richard Hillestad, the study’s lead author and senior principal
researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “The
alternative is to rely on a system that produces too many errors
and puts patients’ privacy at risk.”

The study was backed by powerhouse health IT companies including
Intel, IBM, Microsoft, MYSYS, Oracle and Siemens.

Most health systems currently use statistical matching to things
like a patient’s Social Security number, name, birth date, address,
gender or a medical record number created by the provider. But the
researchers found statistical matching returns incomplete medical
records about 8 percent of the time and risks patient privacy
because a large amount of personal information is exposed to
computer systems during the search.

More than 10 years ago, HIPAA called for HHS to develop a health
ID system, but efforts have been stalled by privacy and security
concerns, and Congress has yet to provide funding. The same fears
have slowed the government’s efforts to move to a nationwide system
of electronic health records—which President Bush has called
for by 2014—that would be shared by all providers.

To overcome these concerns, the RAND study calls for creation of
laws “that severely punish those who misuse information retrieved
with a health ID number,” and also suggests the ID system could
start as a voluntary program.

In the meantime, Microsoft announced last week it is teaming
with Aetna to provide the insurer’s members with portable personal
health records (PHRs). Aetna members will soon be able to transfer
the information in their records directly to Microsoft’s
HealthVault, a security-enhanced, Web-based consumer health
platform that can be accessed even if they change jobs or health
plans.

Read the entire RAND study (PDF).