Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

Sending Health Data Safely and Securely Over the Internet

Yesterday marked another milestone on the Nation’s journey to better health care through the use of electronic health records and health information technology. Two pilot projects were launched—one in Minnesota and the other in Rhode Island—for easily and securely transmitting personal health information via the Internet. These efforts—combined with others that will soon be underway in Tennessee to support the Department of Veterans Affairs, and commercial providers in New York, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Texas, and California—mean a very important new tool is on schedule to enable the safe transmission of patient data over the Internet by healthcare providers, instead their having to rely on mail and fax. This is a significant step toward meeting the Administration’s commitment to make health information exchange (HIE) accessible and practical for all the Nation’s clinicians.

HIE is one of the primary benefits that can be derived from adopting health information technology. HIE means your records can be shared securely among your doctors without getting lost or delayed. It means your hospital discharge instructions can be provided instantly to your physician—and to you. It means that if you are in an accident and arrive in the emergency room unconscious, your record can be made available and the care you receive can be that much safer and more effective.

Since last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been supporting a new initiative, the Direct Project, to provide an early, practical option for HIE. The Direct Project aims to rapidly develop a system that providers can use to support the simpler information exchange functions they need the most.

The vision for this project came from a number of key sources, including a lively discussion of the “Health Internet” at Harvard University in September 2009; the  testimony of practicing providers to the HIT Standards Committee in October 2009; and thought leadership in a series of blog posts by HIT Standards Committee members Wes Rishel  and  David McCallie on the strategy of “Simplified Interop," focusing on simple, internet-based methods for secure, directed communication. Their work was reviewed and endorsed by the Nationwide Health Information Network Workgroup of the HIT Policy Committee in January 2010.

On March 1st, 2010, under the direction of Farzad Mostashari and Doug Fridsma from HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator, Arien Malec kicked off the Direct Project. The fact that pilot programs have begun to launch just 10 months later means that safe, Internet-based transfers of most-used health information is on its way to becoming a reality in the United States. That will enable existing electronic exchanges to become more standardized and convenient. And it will enable many more providers, and many more data transactions, to take advantage of the HIE benefit. Already, vendors have announced support for patient access to health records based on the Direct Project, and have committed significant dollars and resources to the effort.

How was this fast-paced development achieved? We set aside the “top down” approach that’s traditional for government and adopted some lessons from the innovative IT sector. We invited private companies (including some well-known businesses that usually compete against one another!) and public sector entities to work together, on a volunteer basis, to respond to the need for a leading-edge HIE option. Here was the challenge: Create an easy-to-use tool, with uniform requirements, that will support HIE for the most common clinical information needs, all while delivering a useable result for providers, in less than two years.

And it’s working. Employing the principles and practices embodied by President Obama’s Open Government directive, these different stakeholders worked together and delivered a product, which is now in its testing phase. These same stakeholders are now encouraged to develop competing products based on the very standards they worked together to assemble!

It’s time for new ways of achieving the public good. The growing national commitment to harnessing health information technology is one way to further this good. And the open government approach that so efficiently delivered an entry-level HIE system, ahead of schedule, is yet another. The launches of these newest pilot projects are milestones worth celebrating.

Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Blumenthal is National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

President Honors STEM Mentors

By recognizing individuals and organizations that have dedicated themselves to nurturing the technical talent of our country, the PAESMEM awards highlight the crucial role that mentoring plays in unlocking the potential of promising young scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.  The awards recognize in particular mentoring efforts that have enhanced the participation of individuals who are typically underrepresented in STEM disciplines and fields, including women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Through a wide range of initiatives, including undergraduate research programs to provide students with valuable in-lab experience, teacher training programs for high school math and science instructors, and a science education outreach program for low-income families, this year’s awardees are having an impact along the entire STEM pipeline.

The Oval Office meeting was followed by an awards ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where OSTP Director Dr. John Holdren offered keynote remarks and provided the awardees with certificates as well as a personal letter from the President. In his remarks, Dr. Holdren underscored the importance of mentoring in his own education. And he talked about his recent meeting with four young science students who had won national or international awards and had been invited by First Lady Michelle Obama to sit with her during the President’s State of the Union Address. When he asked the four what had most inspired them to pursue work in science and engineering, Dr. Holdren said, “Every one of them talked about a mentor as being crucial.”

PAESMEM awardees receive $10,000 awards from the National Science Foundation, which administers the awards on behalf of the White House, to advance their mentoring efforts. They also receive an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.—most arrived on Monday this week—for a series of events including professional development activities and meetings with members of the Administration. This year’s awardees met with key staff from the White House Mentoring Initiative and the White House Council on Women and Girls, as well as Dr. Jim Gates, a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology renowned for his work in STEM education.  

Congratulations to the recipients of this award!

OSTP Director Dr. John P. Holdren (center) poses with the winners of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. To Dr. Holdren's right is National Science Foundation Director Dr. Subra Suresh. To his left is Acting Deputy Director of the NSF Dr. Cora Marrett.