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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scot who wrote (80944)	11/24/1999 10:21:00 AM
From: Scot	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572877

Thread: Saw this article in AMA News regarding a "digital credential" project for physicians. Although the article makes no mention, describing Intel's participation as provision of software, I wonder if this project utilizes the PIII id? We haven't heard much about this lately and I wonder where all the privacy watchdogs are on this issue? -Scot ama-assn.org Editorial for Nov. 22/29, 1999 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Essential credential The AMA long has protected the integrity of what a physician is by setting professional and ethical standards. The coming explosion in electronically transmitted medical records and physician communication over the Internet requires protecting another type of integrity: ensuring the identity of who an individual doctor is online so that anyone receiving an Internet message from a physician can trust that it is genuine. The AMA and computer chip industry leader Intel Corp. have joined together to create a "digital credential" for physicians. The credential puts an authenticating electronic stamp on all Internet e-mail messages and attached files sent by a physician enrolled in the program, verifying that the message actually was sent by that doctor. Intel provides the software, which also encrypts the message contents, while the AMA's part of the system is to use its comprehensive database of physicians, the Physician Masterfile, to verify the identity of doctors applying for the digital credential. Knowing with certainty who one is dealing with via e-mail long has been an issue of concern in terms of any serious use of the Internet. Any message looks just about as genuine as any other -- all are just words on a screen -- and even a legitimate-sounding e-mail address on an incoming message can't always be trusted. When the context is in a chat room, that may not really matter much. But when the reason for the message is to transmit sensitive, personal patient information for a consultation, or to send an order to a pharmacy or lab, the stakes can be very high indeed. The AMA-Intel project comes at a time when there is a growing awareness of the threat to breaches of medical privacy, confidentiality and security of the medical record in the digital age. Once stored electronically, files are much easier to access, duplicate and mine for information. Each time the files are opened by someone new, privacy and confidentiality crumble at least a little and sometimes a lot. This month, President Clinton unveiled a long list of rules on the privacy of electronically stored and transmitted medical records. Creation of the rules was mandated by Congress back in 1996, to be put into motion if lawmakers themselves failed to act by Aug. 21 of this year. They did not. The privacy rules are a mixed bag. The worst among them is that for a very broad group of purposes, only patient notification of how the records may be used is required -- not explicit patient consent to release the information. Among the better provisions are those dealing with extending privacy safeguards to private-sector medical research and that the administration's privacy rules may be made stronger on the state level. The AMA will study and comment on the privacy provisions in depth in coming weeks. Health plans are already howling about the expense of protecting patient privacy. Expect plenty of contentious within-the-Beltway lobbying over the rules, which are slated to go into effect in 2002. Also, Congress may decide to re-enter the fray. Just because it missed its deadline doesn't mean it can't just write itself a new one. Fortunately, the digital credential doesn't have to wait for any of that. It may be only one element among the complexities of medical records privacy, confidentiality and security, but the need for action now is clear, and the AMA and its partner Intel have created a solution that serves the needs of patients and those who provide care for them. Such speed and decisiveness is a rarity in the health care system these days, and it is a good start in one aspect of what certainly will be a long road to ensuring the integrity of all the medical information darting around in this digital age.