Direct Project Announces Over 60 Healthcare and Health IT Organizations Committed to the Roll Out

The Direct Project specifications documents were also announced today to give vendors and other stakeholders some help to get set up. It defines the gateway needed to use the secure system. There’s a forth coming webinar today that will reveal more. Back in February, I wrote about the Microsoft HealthVault connection and how as a consumer you can do your part to get set up and ready.

Microsoft Delivers Encrypted E-mail Using Government “Direct Project” Security Protocols With HealthVault Personal Health Records

You can also go to the Direct Project website to see which vendors and other healthcare entities are committed to the project.

Many Direct Project members are also involved in standards groups, such as HL7 IHE and other groups. The Direct Project holds the potential of making secure healthcare communication processes simple enough for all to use once the gateways are put in place. BD

Today, The Direct Project announced that over 60 health care and health IT organizations , including many state based and private sector health information exchanges, leading IT vendors, and several leading integrated delivery systems, have planned support for the Direct Project. The broad reach of so many significant national players is helping the project reach its goal of providing health care stakeholders with universal addressing and universal access to secure direct messaging of health information across the U.S. This is quite an accomplishment, given that the Direct Project just started twelve months ago.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) convened the Direct Project to expand the existing specifications incorporated in the Nationwide Health Information Network to be as inclusive as possible for any caregiver regardless of their technology used or the size of the organization. The Direct Project is facilitating “direct” communication patterns, meeting the providers where they are today, with an eye toward approaching more advanced levels of interoperability as they invest in health IT systems.