eHealthTrust Operations FAQs
Operations
Patent
Standards
Public Health Reporting
Research
Security
Operations
Who will own and operate an eHealthTrust?
Most eHealthTrusts will be owned and operated by, and for, the specific community or regional area that they serve.
What organizational form will an eHealthTrust use?
The organizational form will be determined by each eHealthTrust organization itself. The expectation is that many will choose to be not-for-profit, and utilize for-profit subcontractors to assist with their operations. However, ultimately whatever organizational form works best for a specific eHealthTrust should be selected.
How will the eHealthTrust be governed?
Each eHealthTrust organization will determine how it will be governed. Typically, organizations of this type work best when all the key stakeholders are represented in the governance structure.
How will eHealthTrusts relate to each other?
An eHealthTrust Association is currently being formed to provide a forum for communication among eHealthTrusts and to pursue mutual and shared interests (e.g. shared maintenance of eHealthTrust data standards). It is anticipated that the eHealthTrust Association will also set policies, e.g. to facilitate consumer transfer from one eHealthTrust to another. Note that since any individualís complete electronic medical record is located in a single eHealthTrust, there is no need for eHealthTrusts to exchange records with each other, except if they choose to provide mutual backup assistance.
What does the eHealthTrust pending patent cover?
It covers the business process related to providing incentives to physicians for submitting standard information from EHR systems to the eHealthTrust. That process involves collecting sufficient funds from the consumer/payer/purchaser to cover both the operating costs of the eHealthTrust and payments of approximately $2-4 for each standard electronic record of a patient encounter submitted by a provider.
Patent
What does the eHealthTrust pending patent cover?
It covers the business process related to providing incentives to physicians for submitting standard information from EHR systems to the eHealthTrust. That process involves collecting sufficient funds from the consumer/payer/purchaser to cover both the operating costs of the eHealthTrust and payments of approximately $2-4 for each standard electronic record of a patient encounter submitted by a provider.
What is the purpose of the patent?
The purpose of the patent is NOT to generate substantial royalties, but rather to ensure the universal adoption and use of uniform standards for transmission of electronic health information to the eHealthTrust. All patent licensees must agree to accept electronic health information using the same standards (see Standards section below for more information). In this way, providers and EHR vendors can be assured that systems that conform to the eHealthTrust standard for transmitting encounter data will be eligible for reimbursements from any eHealthTrust. Over time, the standard will evolve to require more encoding of medical information so that computer-based decision support tools can be more extensively used. Substantial notice (at least a year) of changes in the standard required for payment will be given. The funds paid for encounter transactions will allow providers to bear the costs of upgraded standards for their EHR systems.
How can I license the patent?
Contact eHealthTrust.com for details: Licensing@eHealthTrust.com. Licensing is available for a $5,000 annual administrative fee and agreement to utilize the same standards as all other eHealthTrusts for receiving electronic health information.
Will royalty payments for use of the patent be required?
No. Only an annual administrative fee will be required.
Standards
How will the standards for transactions with eHealthTrust be determined?
The standards will be determined by working with the EHR vendors and providers. Existing national standards will be identified and designated for use by eHealthTrusts.
Will the eHealthTrust create new standards?
eHealthTrust will not create new standards except in cases where no current standard exists for specific data.
How will eHealthTrust standards relate to other national standards?
eHealthTrust standards will incorporate other national standards.
How will eHealthTrust standards activities relate to national standards organizations?
eHealthTrust licensees will participate in national standards organizations to assist them in developing and maintaining standards needed for eHealthTrust operations.
Will eHealthTrust standards change over time?
Yes, eHealthTrust standards will evolve over time. With substantial notice (at least one year), the standards will gradually require more and more health information to be encoded. In this way, more information will be available for processing by EHR systems, e.g. for decision support. Note: Health information that is not encoded, e.g. free text, is exceptionally difficult to process reliably with computer-based algorithms.
Public Health Reporting
Will an eHealthTrust report any information to public health agencies?
Yes. Upon request of a physician sending information electronically to an eHealthTrust, copies of encounter information relating to legally reportable diseases will be sent to the relevant local public health agency. In doing so, the eHealthTrust will act as the agent of the physician. Normally, there will not be any fees for this either to the physician or the public health agency.
Does public health reporting require patient consent?
No. By law, certain diseases must be reported to public health without the consent of the patient. Such laws constitute ìcommunity consentî and recognize that everyone in the community benefits from tracking of communicable and other potentially dangerous diseases.
Will patients be notified if any of their information is sent to a public health agency?
Not typically, and there is no legal requirement to do so. However, an eHealthTrust may elect to implement such a capability as a service to patients.
Research
Does the eHealthTrust require patients to consent before their information is used for research?
Yes. Patient medical information is never accessed without consent.
How do patients benefit from agreeing to allow their information to be used for research?
All of us benefit from medical research, since it helps develop new treatments that help doctors care for us more effectively. Individuals may benefit directly by learning about clinical trials of experimental therapies that they may be eligible for. In addition, the eHealthTrust collects a small fee from medical researchers ìasking a questionî involving access to patient information. After deducting a small charge to cover the cost of the computer system that processes the query, the remainder of the fees are returned to you, the patient. In this way, you are compensated for the use of your medical information. It is hoped that extensive use of the information in the eHealthTrust for medical research may eventually generate enough revenue to patients to cover the entire cost of operating the eHealthTrust.
How is patient privacy protected when their information is used for research?
No information that could identify a specific person is released to medical researchers in response to their query. Researchers receive only statistical information -- for example, the number of patients whose most recent cholesterol measurement is above a certain value. If there is a reason for the researchers to contact patients (for example, they have found some patients that do not appear receiving the care they need and want to let them know this), the eHealthTrust can send a communication from the researcher(s) to specific patients without allowing the researchers to have any knowledge of the recipients of the message. It would then be up to the patients who receive such a message to decide what to do (for example, talk to your doctor and/or contact the researchers). In this way, your privacy is always protected even if you have agreed that your information can be used for research purposes.
How can medical researchers access information in an eHealthTrust?
Qualified medical researchers, with approval from their Institutional Review Board (IRB), can submit queries for the eHealthTrustô research database (separate from the eHealthTrustô clinical repository used to provide medical records used for health care), which contains the records of patients who have agreed to allow their information to be used for research. The query will be run, and the de-identified aggregate results returned to the researcher. Optionally, a message can be sent to patients identified by a research query. Such a message can include information about how to contact the researcher for further information. However, the identity of the recipients of such messages is not provided to researchers.
Most of the proceeds from the small fees charged for searching the eHealthTrustô records are returned to patients who are generous enough to consent to the use of their data; the remainder defrays the cost of the searching system.
Note that the computer system used for responding to research queries is NOT the same one used to make eHealthTrustô member information available for patient care. It is a separate computer with NO phone lines or network connections; this ensures that the data is secure from hackers
How can sponsors of clinical trials find eligible patients by using eHealthTrust information?
Sponsors of clinical trials can determine the number of patients who may be eligible. In conjunction with such a research query (see question above), a message can be sent to patients identified as matching specific criteria. Such a message can include information about how to contact the researcher for further information and to participate in the clinical trial. However, the identity of the recipients of such messages is not provided to researchers. Should the eHealthTrustô members receiving the message wish to contact the researcher, they are free to do so.
Security
Will individual medical records be safe in an eHealthTrust? How is the information kept secure?
The eHealthTrustô server is secured with state-of-the-art, world class computer security that meets Department of Defense standards. Patients must give permission for anyone to access their eHealthTrust record. Once access has been granted, the authorized health care provider must give their identification information as well as the patients. The appropriate record is released only to authorized health care providers with the patientís permission.
All access to patient records is independently recorded in an ìaudit trailî that the patient can access. No one can access any health care information without creating an audit record of the event.
Finally, all eHealthTrust employees and contractors who have access to health care data undergo extensive background checks. Their access to records is severely restricted and very closely monitored .
Will patients know who has seen their medical records in an eHealthTrust?
Yes, a complete record is kept of ALL access to each medical record, allowing patients to review exactly who has accessed what information and when.
If answers to your questions are not found here, please feel free to send your questions to: Info@eHealthTrust.com