Initiatives addressing confidentiality in electronic health records architectural consideration and patient engagement in healthcare IT

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature on electronic health records and summarizes a few persistent challenges that electronic medical record (EMR) systems must address relating to security and safety of patients. A discussion on patient engagement and its connection with confidentiality in Health IT is followed by examples with an emphasis on the personal health record portal implementation at Kaiser Permanente. Next, through review of practitioner and architectural guideline documentation, a summary of concepts for electronic health records architectural considerations for privacy with the implementation of technologies such as access controls, encryption and data handling best practices. In this position paper, two major initiatives are revealed: (1) The premise of patient engagement and (2) the guidelines for a “Robust Health Data Infrastructure Architecture” platform for Health IT.