Pilot seeks to advance patient control over EMRs

The University of Texas at Austin and Jericho Systems Corp. are joining forces to develop a national pilot program designed to explore advanced patient control over shared EMRs.

With approval from members of an Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT working group, the pilot will concentrate on how patients can better control the release of their protected health information (PHI) when their medical records are requested electronically from their healthcare provider, according to a release. To that end, the pilot will simulate the exchange of EMRs through eHealth Exchange, which will be augmented by adding a repository where virtual patients can specify conditions under which their PHI can be electronically shared, according to the announcement.

The pilot also will study how patients can receive notifications when a provider requests their PHI.

“We view this pilot as an opportunity for our students and faculty to experience and contribute to the important process of developing standards-based, privacy controls that will be required to protect consumers’ medical data as access requests continue to escalate,” Leanne Field, MD, director of UT Austin’s Health IT program, said. “In addition, by partnering with Jericho Systems and other participants in the pilot, our students will benefit from participating in applied research and will have the opportunity to develop real-world skills.”