CMS Launches Electronic Health Record Pilot in Utah

Aug 14, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Utah will participate in a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services electronic medical records pilot project. Mike Fierberg [FEAR-burg] of CMS says the program will allow people to take control of their own private health records.

"If, for example, you're travelling or you're just out of town and you need medical assistance, well you can have your medical records online and easily accessible to a treating physician," Fierberg says. "And they won't have to go through hours of interviews, and background stuff and what kind of medications are you taking. It will save a lot of time, and potentially prevent errors."

The health care field is moving toward a standard of electronic medical records. However, a recent theft of millions of University of Utah Hospital System patients' personal records highlights how vulnerable electronic systems can be. Fierberg says this is the very reason CMS has not allowed patient information to be downloaded to personal medical records software in the past.

"We take the provisions of health information privacy very seriously. And no one is going to get into this program without a very, very strong demonstration of how they're going to safely encrypt all of this data to make sure that nobody who is unauthorized to see it can ever see it," Fierberg says.

Medicare beneficiaries will be able to start their personal health record through the pilot program early next year. It will be available for residents of Utah and Arizona.

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