Western Health Information Network tests patient identifiers

The Western Health Information Network (WHIN), a regional health information organization serving Southern California, has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio for a pilot project to test how unique patient identifiers can increase patient control over their clinical information and improve the quality of medical records.

The pilot project will involve issuing personal identifiers using the Voluntary Universal Healthcare Identifier (VUHID) system provided by Global Patient Identifiers (GPII), a Tucson, Ariz.-based nonprofit company focused on a single healthcare identifier tool. VUHID allows participating providers to more accurately identify patients and access healthcare records at the time of the visit, according to WHIN, based in Long Beach, Calif.

“One of the thorniest problems in our healthcare system is correctly identifying all of the records for a given patient across the community. It’s critical to protect a patient’s privacy but it’s essential that we know as much about a patient as we can in order to deliver safe and effective care. We are hopeful that WHIN and GPII’s work on patient identity will deliver important benefits in healthcare,” said Albert O. Shar, vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The project was officially started in mid-April and is expected to continue into mid-2012, by which time WHIN stated it and GPII will determine and quantify the benefits and challenges of unique identifiers among a population of patients in the Los Angeles area.

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.