Critics 'spooked' by CIA eHealth record interest

Just when you might have thought the privacy debate over electronic health records (EHRs) couldn't get any weirder, now the CIA is investing money in a firm that develops master patient index software. And privacy advocates are a bit…well, spooked. At issue is the CIA's venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, putting up some cash for Initiate Systems. The Veterans Health Administration uses Initiate's Identity Hub to eliminate duplicate records and improve matching of records in its master person index (MPI), which has 12 million entries. The software is also used to help match patient records in a three-state regional health information organization that the Markle Foundation's Connecting for Health supports.

The company's software is widely used in Canada, particularly in the provinces of Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Ontario. Canada Health Infoway, a federally funded nonprofit corporation that leads e-health efforts in the country, signed an agreement to use Initiate MPI software throughout Canada in May 2004, almost two years before In-Q-Tel made its investment in Initiate this March. Initiate disclosed its relationship with In-Q-Tel on its Web site and Modern HealthCare reported the CIA link to Initiate last month.

For more details on the CIA eHealth story:
- go undercover and get the scoop at GovHealthIT

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