Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania is licensing a service that will securely send members' health and healthcare finance information to electronic devices, including PDAs and cell phones.
The Blues plan expects to offer the solution to 100,000 members during the first six months of this year, and plans to offer the service to all 600,000 members across 13 counties in northeastern and north central Pennsylvania.
The service uses products from Toronto-based Diversinet Corp., which provides a two-factor "soft token" technology that has been developed with consumer use in mind.
Physical tokens, such as a password-generating device, often are used by professionals to gain access to sensitive information. The Diversinet technology, called MobiSecure Wallet and Vault, enable consumers to use a virtual token through the authentication of the device that the consumer is using.
For example, a consumer's PC, PDA or phone can download MobiSecure Wallet software, and when it's activated, can securely retrieve personal data information. The MobiSecure Vault is a server-side repository that can provide access to personal information, which can include health, financial or banking and brokerage information.
In effect, the technology enables the consumer to choose a device that becomes his token to access information, when combined with a personal password.
In the case of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the vault server is behind its firewall. The Diversinet server can be either a mirror image or a virtual image of the Blues' data, or it can be a conduit to its information, said Jay Couse, senior vice president of business development for Diversinet.
The vault also can function as a "traffic cop" for drawing information from various external sources, such as providers, payers or pharmacy benefit managers.
"This puts the patient in control of data," he said. Patients can choose what data to access, who to show it to or who can access it on a one-time basis, for example.
Cell phones are only beginning to be used in the U.S. to access and download data; these trends are firmly in place overseas, Couse said. "The trend is worldwide for people to see the mobile phone as part of their identity and something they want to use for all kinds of things, like health and financial information."
"We are excited to offer the MobiSecure Health solution to our BCNEPA members and providers," said Drew Palin, MD, the plan's chief development officer. "The solution will make personal health records secure and available anytime and anywhere.
"Secure portability of medical records at the time of care, the convenience and peace of mind in being able to receive fast and secure coverage confirmation, all accessed securely through a mobile device, make the MobiSecure Health solution a trend-setting product that will enable our members to take control of their healthcare information," Palin said.