Phase 3: The Connecting for Health Common Framework Model, the Connecting for Health Common Framework Prototype, and the Markle Foundation Personal Health Technology Initiative (2005-2006)
The Connecting for Health Common Framework Model
The Connecting for Health Common Framework model does not require the development of large centralized repositories of personal health information. Instead, it achieves a health information sharing environment with a decentralized "network of networks" approach based on common, open technical and policy standards and enforcement. The technical design was premised on leaving clinical data in the hands of those who have a direct relationship with the patient and leaving decisions about who should and should not see patient data in the hands of the patient and the physicians that are directly involved with his or her care.
The Connecting for Health Common Framework: Resources for Secure and Private Health Information Exchange provides the initial elements of a comprehensive approach for secure, authorized, and private health information sharing, so that consumers and their authorized providers can have access to vital clinical data when and where they are needed. This capability is essential for providing high-quality care and reducing medical errors. Our broad collaborative believes that such a Common Framework must be defined and maintained if we are to realize the goal of a health information sharing environment that makes vital information available for patients and their providers when and where it’s needed, while protecting privacy and earning the trust of the American people.
The Connecting for Health Common Framework elaborates a set of explicit privacy and technology principles and is comprised of specific technology standards, health information policies, and model contractual participation agreements. The policy and technology elements of the Common Framework were developed in parallel in and with the three prototype communities over the course of a year. We convened both local stakeholders and the nation’s leading experts in privacy, law, health information technology, and health care delivery. The Common Framework is built on the assumption of local variation and innovation, and therefore specifies only the necessary common standards and policies for private and secure information sharing across communities of other non-geographic networks.
Press Releases
April 6, 2006
Health and Technology Leaders Release the Connecting for Health Common Framework for Initiating Private and Secure Health Information Sharing
January 18, 2005
Leading Health Care and Information Technology Groups Endorse Common Framework for Health Information Exchange to Support Improvements in Health and Healthcare
The Connecting for Health Common Framework Prototype in Boston, Massachusetts; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Mendocino, California
The Connecting for Health Common Framework is specified in a set of 17 technical and policy guides developed by experts in information technology, health privacy law, health care delivery, and policy. These guides were developed and tested in a working prototype in three different community settings in Indianapolis, Boston, and Mendocino County, California. The Common Framework specifies the necessary polices and technical standards for these or any disparate health information networks to securely share information while protecting privacy and allowing for local autonomy and innovation.
In addition to the technical documentation, each of the three communities has made available its source code and testing interface.
Press Releases
February 8, 2006
Connecting for Health Prototype Successfully Moved Electronic Health Information Among Medical Record Systems in Three States on Three Independent Networks
June 1, 2005
Prototype for a Nationwide Information Exchange Launched by Connecting for Health
The Markle Foundation Personal Health Technology Initiative
In parallel with its prototype work, Connecting for Health convened the Personal Health Technology Council of 44 leaders including consumer and privacy advocates, medical professionals and informatics experts, payers, technologists, federal policymakers, bio-ethicists, researchers, and technology writers. The Council's charter was to guide the Markle Foundation and Connecting for Health by identifying the next generation of policy challenges, anticipating issues that would emerge as personal health technologies become more widely available and articulating policies that would lower barriers and accelerate the public’s successful use of these new technologies.
The Personal Health Technology Council established a set of Consumer Principles (PDF, 58K) to guide the development and use of health information technology. The principles were released in October 2005 at the Connecting Americans to Their Health Care conference. The collaborative also released a public opinion survey (PDF, 142K) at the conference showing broad consumer support for the concepts upon which the principles are based.
