The Idaho Department of Health and Human Services will stop paying access fees to the Idaho Health Data Exchange, a health data sharing service created by the bankrupt government.
Interim Department of Health Director Dean Cameron told the Idaho Health Data Exchange Director that the state: terminate the contract The deal with the exchange has ended, according to an April 17 letter obtained by the Idaho Capital Sun.
But Prime Minister David Cameron said the health department could delay or cancel the contract termination.That is, within the next month, the exchange will Prime Minister Cameron mentioned security audits of medical data, nearly 10 years of financial audits, employee contact information and time management policies.
The Idaho Health Data Exchange is one of them. Several medical information systems nationwide It aims to help healthcare providers, insurance companies and others share patient medical data more effectively.
The Idaho Health Data Exchange is a nonprofit organization funded primarily by approximately $94 million in federal tax funds. A monitoring report by the Performance Evaluation Bureau in November found that the exchange had engaged in the following actions: There are few accountability measures established by the state. More than a decade after state officials created it.
What happened to the Idaho Health Data Exchange? Can other states learn from it?
“The Department takes these concerns seriously and acknowledges what the (monitoring report) previously identified as the (Idaho Health Data Exchange Authority’s) general ‘reluctance to implement transparency measures.’ “We are asking the (Idaho Health Data Exchange) to take some steps to improve the situation and may consider continuing the relationship,” Cameron wrote.
Jesse Meldl, executive director of the Idaho Health Data Exchange, told the Sun that the exchange hopes its services will continue to be available to health departments.
The Idaho Health Data Exchange “continues to work with our partners at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to ensure that the exchange's services remain available to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare,” Meldl said in a statement. .
Meldl said the exchange is being handled by the health department.
Idaho Health Data Exchange got out of bankruptcy The plan was to pay off 25% of the debt last year.
It was not immediately clear how much the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is contributing to the Idaho Health Data Exchange.
Meldl previously told The Sun that the health department pays a “relatively small” fee to access the exchange's data. He said Idaho's withdrawal of support for the exchange would not have a “material impact” on the exchange's ability to operate.
Meldl previously told the Sun that the exchange has been operating without state or federal subsidies since the end of 2020.
What this means for healthcare providers in Idaho
Department of Health spokesperson AJ McWhorter said health care providers can still participate in interactions. Without a required health data security audit, “participating providers will conduct the audit at their own risk,” McWhorter said.
Although the monitoring report found no evidence that the exchange's data was vulnerable, identified a potential conflict of interest; Meldl previously cited external reviews and said the exchange's data security was “first-class.”
If the state of Idaho terminates its contract with the exchange, the Idaho Department of Health will stop making payments to the exchange or receiving or sharing data through the exchange, McWhorter told The Sun in a statement. He said the health department used the data for medical records review and epidemiological casework. McWhorter said if the contract is terminated, the agency will use other means for the work.
But if Idaho withdraws, the state's vaccine database, known as the Immunization Reminder Information System, will no longer be accessible through the exchange, McWhorter said.
“While providers will rely on other participating providers' immunization data in the (exchange), approved providers will continue to have access to their immunization records directly from the vaccine system,” McWhorter said. .
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Termination of state contract will not affect Idaho health data exchange operations
Meldl said the loss of revenue from the Idaho Department of Health and Human Services is “not significant” to the Idaho Health Data Exchange, which “has many important customers” across the state.
But Meldl suggested it could put a strain on health departments and health care providers.
“If a patient's medical records are not obtained before treatment is provided, steps are unnecessarily duplicated more than 20% of the time,” Meldl told The Sun. “These things, in my opinion, make the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and the people of Idaho less available to him by not using IHDE as a resource to make the process of care delivery more efficient and increase the likelihood of better health outcomes.” This suggests that the situation will deteriorate considerably in their attributable population. ”
Meldl said health care providers will not be directly affected. But indirectly, he said, medical staff would have to spend more time manually responding to health department requests for health records.
“We look forward to (Idaho Health Data Exchange) continuing to support the health care community in Idaho in any way possible, and that certainly includes the Idaho Department of Health and Human Services,” Meldl said. told The Sun.
Meldl said the contract had already been set until June 30 and was renewed annually for five years.
IHDE Termination Letter
