Hello, I'm Jim Merlino,
Chief Innovation Officer at The Joint Commission,
and I'd like to introduce you to a new
and very different certification
program for The Joint Commission.
It's called the Responsible Use
of Health Data Certification.
Healthcare as a whole is on the brink
of a new era in data collection reporting
and use. Patient data collected by hospitals
and other healthcare organizations have intrinsic value in
that it can be potentially used
to improve outcomes for all patients.
Recognizing that patient data can be valuable in
providing better care for the future,
many healthcare organizations currently allow uses
of health data for purposes other than clinical care, such
as quality and operations improvement, discovery,
or algorithm development
and artificial intelligence development.
The Office of the National Coordinator
for Health Information Technology estimates that nearly 85%
of hospitals in the US have the capability
to export their patient data for reporting
and analysis purposes.
Your hospital may be one of those
that are already sharing data
for improvement purposes or research.
While the power of data to change lives
for the better is a inspiring, it is also formidable.
As a physician and expert in patient experience,
I'm well aware of the privacy
and security concerns surrounding health data.
For patients especially, there are a lot
of unknowns when it comes
to talking about their health data.
They may hear about data breaches at their local hospital
or health system, or even receive notice
that their data has been potentially exposed
and wonder how secure their health data is
and whether anything is being done
to better protect it and them.
This is a valid concern
and one that will only grow in the future
as health data is further mined analyzed
and used to develop algorithms for future uses.
Now is the time for the healthcare industry to step up
to self monitor itself
before other entities have to assume that role.
For us, The Joint Commission's Responsible Use
of Health Data certification program will help healthcare
organizations use data responsibly to improve the safety,
quality, and equity of care to develop new technologies
and discover new therapies benefiting all patients. Based on
principles from the Health Evolution Forum's,
"The Trust Framework for Accelerating Responsible Use
of De-identified Data and Algorithm and Product Development",
the new certification covers de-identification processes,
data controls, limitations on use, algorithm validation,
patient transparency and oversight structure.
The certification will validate to patients
and other stakeholders that robust policies
and procedures are in place to help protect, govern,
and accountable use secondary data, which is data
that is transferred to third party organizations.
The certification provides healthcare organizations
with guidance navigating the appropriate sensitivities
needed to safely transfer data to third party organizations.
In addition, the certification allows a hospital
to publicly acknowledge that it has an objective,
rigorous process for meeting the necessary requirements.
There's also further reinforcement since the standards
and certification process align with
how regulatory agencies think about the uses of health data
and the protection of patient privacy.
There's tremendous value in utilizing The Joint Commission,
a known entity that specializes in the objective evaluation
of healthcare processes
to validate the responsible use of data.
Healthcare organizations across the US already enjoy
numerous benefits from The Joint Commission certification
program in clinical areas such as stroke,
cardiac, and perinatal care.
The Responsible Use
of Health Data certification will pave the way
for improved care processes
by responsibly accelerating the adoption
of artificial intelligence
and machine learning in healthcare while involving leading
hospitals in this early implementation.
The mission of The Joint Commission is
to continuously improve healthcare for the public,
and we strongly support the use of data
to advance future healthcare improvements for all patients.
You can also show your support
and your responsible use of health data.
Begin the process today
by completing the online form available at our Responsible
Use of Health Data certification webpage.
Just scroll to the bottom of the page
and click the contact us button.
Thank you.