‘Have your say on how your individual health identifier is managed’ is the message from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). Today HIQA publishes draft Standards for public consultation which lay the foundation for the introduction of individual health identifiers to the Irish healthcare system.

An individual health identifier (IHI) is a unique, non-transferable number assigned to all people using health and social care services in Ireland, which will last for their lifetime. Its purpose is to accurately identify the person, enabling health and social care to be delivered to the right patient, in the right place and at the right time. 

HIQA’s Acting Director of Health Information Rachel Flynn said: “Individual health identifiers are the cornerstone of eHealth systems and are key for implementing electronic health records and eHealth solutions such as ePrescribing. HIQA has developed these draft Standards to support the introduction of health identifiers into the Irish healthcare system by providing information governance and management standards that the health identifier operators must put into practice.

“Implementing these standards will promote trust among the public and health service providers that the national registers have been established in accordance with the law and in line with international best practice. In turn, this creates confidence that health service providers can be uniquely identified and can uniquely identify the patients to whom they are providing services, which ultimately leads to improvements in patient safety.

“The Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, has outlined the introduction of individual health identifiers as one of his key 25 health priorities for 2015. Individual health identifiers are critical for the advancement of the eHealth strategy in Ireland. When introduced, they will play a crucial role in building safer, more efficient healthcare services by improving accuracy in identifying patients and their medical records. This will reduce the number of adverse events that can happen when delivering healthcare services, such as giving the patient incorrect medication, or admitting the wrong person for surgery.

“The Authority is working closely with the Chief Information Officer, Richard Corbridge, to support the introduction of individual health identifiers, which is legislated for under the Health Identifiers Act 2014.

HIQA is asking the public to give feedback on the draft Standards. The public consultation on the draft information governance and management standards for the health identifiers operator in Ireland will run until 24 April 2015. The Standards along with details on how to take part in the consultation are available on www.hiqa.ie. Following completion of the public consultation process, feedback will be analysed and considered before the Standards are finalised.

ENDS

Further Information: 

Marty Whelan, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, Health Information and Quality Authority, 01 814 7480/ 086 244 7623 mwhelan@hiqa.ie

Notes to the Editor: 

A full list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on individual health identifiers and HIQA’s draft Standards for public consultation can be found here.

The Health Identifiers Act 2014 is the law that underpins the introduction of health identifiers in Ireland. It provides the legal basis for setting up the National Register of Individual Health Identifiers and the National Register ofHealthServices Provider Identifiers.

The National Register of Individual Health Identifiers will contain an individualhealth identifier (IHI) number and associated demographic information for each person who has used, is using or may use ahealth and social care service in Ireland.

The National Register ofHealth Services Provider Identifiers will contain a healthservices provider identifier for each provider that offers health services in Ireland. This identifier will be known as a health services provider identifier (HSPI). It is a unique, non-transferable number assigned to both healthcare organisations and healthcare professionals.

HIQA’s role is to develop draft information governance and management standards for the Health Identifiers Operator. It will then be responsible for monitoring the Health Identifiers Operator against the information governance and management standards. 

The IHI is different from an electronic health record, which is an electronic version of individual’s medical history. The IHIis one on the key enablers required to implement electronic health records. The benefits of having an individual health identifier for patients include:

• improved accuracy in identifying you and your medical records will lead to safer and better care being provided to you
• your records in different healthcare organisations will be accurately associated with you
• your health information can be shared safely and seamlessly between public and private health service providers, for example referral letters sent from a public hospital to a private sector GP
• health identifiers enable electronic transfer of your health information, which results in faster care for you
• allocating an IHI to new born babies helps link their healthcare records for life.

Examples of how individual health identifiers will be used to improve patient safety and efficiency of healthcare services:

• After you attend your general practitioner (GP), your IHI will be stored on their local system in your medical record, whether paper or electronic. Any time your GP communicates with another health service provider on your behalf, your IHI will be included on that communication. Should you require a blood test, for example, your GP will include your IHI with this request. The hospital will return both your IHI and the result of the blood test to your GP. This allows your GP to safely identify you when they receive the result.
• Your IHI will be recorded on your medical record in the hospital’s computer system if you attend an emergency department. When the hospital sends a discharge letter to your GP, your IHI will be included in that communication to your GP. The discharge letter may be paper or electronic. This allows your GP to safely identify you when they receive the discharge letter.