Chatting with Chuck Christian, VP of IHIE, Chapter 1

If the mark of a good leader is the ability to evolve, as many believe it is, then Chuck Christian may be one of the greatest. Throughout his career, he’s been a staunch advocate for state’s rights, and a firm believer that healthcare is provided locally, and therefore should be governed locally. But as someone who has been heavily involved in advancing data sharing (both as VP of Technology and Engagement with the Indiana Health Information Exchange, as well as an active member of CHIME and HIMSS), he has seen the challenges created by the lack of an overarching consent model. And so, he believes perhaps it’s time to make some compromises.

Recently, we spoke with Christian about why he believes the patient-centered data home model could be a difference maker, the need for better education and more transparency when it comes to data access, and what he hopes to see from ONC’s proposed rule. He also provides his thoughts on CommonWell and Carequality, the obstacles still facing smaller facilities when it comes to federal regulations, and what he believes is the key to effective advocacy.

Chapter 1



* MyHealthEData & Blue Button 2.0

* “We need to make sure we’re appropriately educating individuals.”

* Learning from Facebook’s mistakes

* Moonshot program & the push for data access

* Physicians as gatekeepers – “We’re still dealing with silos of data.”

* IHIE’s patient-centered data home initiative

* Wading through “thorny issues” with patient consent



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Bold Statements

We need to make sure we’re appropriately educating individuals about how their data is going to be used, rather than having them just say, ‘Sure, you can have it.’

We’re still dealing with silos of data, but we’re looking for ways to update those silos in a trusted mechanism. I think that’s one of the underlying premises of interoperability.

It’s a marathon. It is not a sprint. We tried it as a sprint and got breathless and exhausted very quickly. So we just need to keep digging at it.

It hamstrings the formative piece of that where we’re going to inform care wherever that patient goes. It’s one of the many thorny things we need to address as a nation — can we come up with a model of consent that works in every care setting?

Gamble:  Looking back at 2018, a lot of significant things happened in healthcare, but I’d like to start with the announcement that came back at HIMSS18 from Seema Verna about MyHealthEData. When that happened, there was a big splash — ‘let’s overhaul Meaningful Use,’ which a lot of people cheered for, but it’s far more complicated than it sounds. What are your thoughts on MyHealthEData and other initiatives to endure patients get a copy of their records?

Christian:  Sure, I’ll tell you what I understand. This is like Blue Button 2.0. One of the things it does is give patients access to four years’ worth of claims data. Patients will be allowed to give other people access to it. For example, if they have an app on their phone from Medicare Part D, and they want to give them access to their medication history and profile, they can tell CMS, ‘I’m giving these folks the rights to access my data.’ And those providers will be able to get in and use the API and extract four years’ worth of claims data.

One of the things I asked when I was on the phone with those folks was, ‘Is there anything CMS is doing to ensure that secondary use of the data is going to be appropriate and protect the consumer?’ They basically said, ‘Once the patient gives their blessing to that individual to access the data, it’s up to the individual to ensure that they read the privacy and use requirements about how they’re going to use the data.’ I thought to myself,