Health IT strategic plan public hearing tomorrow; opt-out policy being considered

DPH’s health IT planning group will have a public review of their strategic plan tomorrow evening, June 23rd from 5 to 7pm at the Legislative Office Building. DPH is heading the state’s HIT planning in response to CT winning federal funding to build a health information exchange. The group is accepting input online until June 30th as well as tomorrow night.
Of concern are reports, not discussed in the strategic plan draft online, that the group is planning to adopt an opt-out privacy policy. In opt-out policies, every patient is assumed to have agreed to share all their health information with the exchange (and anyone who has access to the exchange) unless they affirmatively find and sign a form asking to keep their information private. eHealthCT developed an opt-in privacy policy for the Medicaid health IT exchange pilot, after a lengthy process engaging a large and diverse group of advocates, providers, legal experts, and other stakeholders. The eHealthCT group considered all the options, held several public forums, gathered comment online and solicited significant legal advice which all led to an opt-in policy where patient information is only shared after patients affirmatively make an informed choice to share their information, after learning about all the benefits and risks.
Ellen Andrews