Trust has long been central to the discussion of health information exchange, and to this end, the federal Health IT Policy Committee is laying the groundwork for a "trust fabric" to encourage use of the Nationwide Health Information Network.

On Wednesday, the panel's NHIN workgroup will present its final recommendations to the full committee to define trusted HIE over the Internet, a framework of standards and services called NHIN Direct. "The value of a trust relationship creates an incentive for health information sharing," NHIN workgroup chair David Lansky, CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health, said during a workgroup meeting last week, reports Government Health IT.

The subcommittee likely will recommend that public- and private-sector organizations be allowed to monitor trust compliance at different points of data exchange, while making sure that all participants follow HIPAA and state privacy and security rules. "Oversight must exist at multiple levels [of the exchange], and transparency of oversight must be at all levels," Dr. Farzad Mostashari, representing the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said at the April 14 workgroup meeting.

Fred Trotter, a noted proponent of open-source health IT, says that the planned NHIN Direct "trust fabric" is similar to HealthQuilt, a prototype he built for an HIE project in Houston. On his blog, Trotter explains some of the technical details.

For further information:
- read this Government Health IT story
- see this blog post from Trotter

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