Verizon to gain HIT ground with patient data security push

Verizon’s efforts to gain traction in the health IT space may get a boost from its plan to kick off the New Year by issuing free medical identity credentials to physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Consider it a shot in the arm for patient data security.

With physicians juggling an average of 17 identities at any given time, due to the various systems they log into each day, the idea is to streamline access to the Verizon Medical Data Exchange—a solution that simplifies the way patient health info is swapped between physicians and healthcare organizations.  The company created the system in August to let doctors send and receive patient data across various platforms, or to the private physician portals that will be made available at no charge.
 
Company officials said yesterday the credentials will offer universal capability, granting doctors access to all of their health IT systems.
 
According to an American Medical News report, “The company said the credentials will satisfy requirements under the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act for all physicians to use ‘strong identity’ credentials that will verify their identity when accessing and sharing patient information. The credentials also can be used to access non-Verizon health exchange platforms, the company said.”
 
Since introducing its Medical Data Exchange this past summer, Verizon has expanded this network to allow the exchange of clinical notes and data through a secure online portal that will be free to individual physicians, even those who don’t subscribe to the exchange. As the American Medical News article notes, this service “is similar to what the e-prescribing network Surescripts will offer to its network customers.”
 

Photo obtained from Maine Medical Center.