Kaiser Permanente's "HealthConnect" Computer System

According to its website "Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program with headquarters in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 8.2 million members in 9 states and the District of Columbia" (Kaiser 1006 1). As health care and scientific advancements in medicine grow, and as the aging population will be requiring more care- both preventive and curative, computer systems which were developed years ago need upgrading.

Kaiser is really involved in two separate systems. One is the protected health information (PHI) which is computerized and which may be far more accessible to hackers than the so-called HealthConnect system. "PHI is information that contains identifiers, such as (patient's) name, Social Security number, or other information that reveals who (the patient is)" (Kaiser.org 2006 1). The Kaiser Permanente website includes the statement that this computer system includes hospital, medical, mental health and substance abuse patient records, laboratory results, X-ray reports, pharmacy records and appointment records.

While safeguards and firewalls need to be continually upgraded and reinforced to prevent hackers from getting this personal information, we know, from recent experiences in other industries, that there always seems to be a way for some records to be stolen, or "lost." So, despite promises to patients we well as employees about protection for their personal medical records, chances are that- sometime in the future- these records can be fraudulently obtained. It seems that as quickly as new firewalls are created, technologically-knowledgeable hackers will find a way to breach them.

It is the HealthConnect system that requires far more close monitoring and investment in protective measures, because this is a national network containing highly personal and privileged information not merely about patients and medical procedures, but about experimentation, research into new clinical approaches and the development, along with the pharmaceutical companies, of new medications and means to alleviate pain, overcome severe illnesses, and even to develop protective plans to forestall future illnesses. The HealthConnect system, therefore, is- and is becoming- far more sophisticated in that it "raises...sights from purely hospital needs to the total health care needs of the individuals to be served...(with) vital linkage to a central record bank" (Debley 2006 2). In other words, HealthConnect covers not merely a single Kaiser hospital "population" or even all its facilities, but is linked to nearly every medical facility of any substance within the U.S. (and eventually world-wide). HealthConnect is far from complete. "When the system is fully online, it will include more business functions for the doctor's offices and greater electronic communications between patients and physicians. Patients will be able to check their lab test results, refill prescriptions and have secure communications with the doctor's office. Studies say that extensive use of information technology in systems such as HealthConnect could save as much as 10 percent of current health-care spending. On a national tab of $1.9 trillion, that's $190 billion...Before savings can be realized, a vast amount of money will need to be spent on implementing IT systems. HealthConnect, for example, is part of a $1.8 billion national investment in information technology by Kaiser Permanente" (Bijlefeld 2005 2). With so much money already spent and more budgeted, what will be needed as a contingency to safeguard this growing national system. As mentioned earlier, providing even daily upgrades and safety measures can still challenge hackers. Perhaps the one safe way is to provide a parallel system, heavily encrypted with nearly unbreakable codes- a system which is not to be accessed, but to which the same information as goes into HealthConnect is fed into this second system to be used only in dire emergencies. It is obvious that even as time lines bring HealthConnect into daily reality, budgets will have to be stretched for additional safeguards and this suggested parallel "emergency/contingency" system. New IT specialists will be needed to be on the alert for breaches of the system, and once detected, the parallel system must be put into action- with the sort of encryption nearly impossible to break into.

WORKS CITED:

Bijlefeld, M. "Health care finally moving toward efficient IT systems" Virginia Business Magazine, September, 2005

www.virginiabusiness.com/ magazine/yr2005/sep05/health.shtml

Debley, T. "Kaiser Permanente and HealthConnect"

www.kaaiser.com

No author listed: "HealthConnect and Personal Health Information Guidelines" www.kaiserpermanente.org