Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More is a government-sponsored initiative to promote the secure communication of patient health information. Its simplicity makes health data exchange possible for all providers.

Direct offers a simplified method for externally sharing health data in a variety of formats including Consolidated CDAClinical Document Architecture (CDA) HL7 CDA uses XML for encoding of the documents and breaks down ... More, HL7HL7 is a Standards Developing Organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute (... More v2 and DICOMDigital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is a common format for image storage. It allo... More.

Users of Direct will be patients and caregivers who will exchange secure emails to their providers and also EHRs that send and receive automated messages.

Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More is an attractive option for sending patient data because it:

• Fulfills a key requirement of Meaningful Use Stage 2
• Is an ideal substitute to costly VPN connections
• Has the potential to displace the need to utilize certain Web ServicesWeb services are a standardized way of integrating applications. Using open standards, businesses ca... More for HIEHealth Information Exchange (HIE) focuses on the mobilization of healthcare information electronical... More participation
• Provides the ability to quickly fulfill data transport requests from the clinical team.

Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More is often compared to secure email because it uses the simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) as its communication backbone. SMTP is a common Internet standard used for e-mail transmission.

Instead of faxing protected health information to external providers, providers using Direct will attach the PHI to an email and send to an external provider’s Direct email address. The email will be secure and a designated Health Information Service Provider (HISPHISP, or Health Information Service Provider, is an email service provider that follows Direct Proje... More) will be utilized for authentication.

How secure is Direct communication?

Once a trust relationship is established with other Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More users, health data transmitted on a Direct network will be securely delivered to the trusted Direct user.

The Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More mandates the use of S/MIME, which provides:

• Message Authentication
  Digital certificates assure messages are received from a known endpoint
• Message Encryption
  Targeted encryption to only the destination endpoint
• Message Integrity
  Signing capability assures receivers of the sender’s identity

Meaningful Use and Direct Project

The ONCOffice of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) – Located within the Of... More requires all Stage 2-certified complete EHRs to support Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More, making it the “minimum threshold” data communication method for exchanging health data.

Organizations can also use SOAP-based Web ServicesWeb services are a standardized way of integrating applications. Using open standards, businesses ca... More, but certified EHRs are only required to support Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More.

While it is required for certified EHRElectronic Health Record (EHR), as defined in Defining Key Health Information Technology Terms (The ... More software to support the Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More for ToC scenarios, there are other areas where it can be applied for Meaningful Use Stage 2.

Benefits of Direct Project

The Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More has the capability to significantly change the way providers share information, including the potential to replace TCP/IPTransmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is a low-level communications protocol used... More over VPN.

Direct Project and healthcare standards

The Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. ... More can handle a variety of data formats, including all standard healthcare formats, including CCDContinuity of Care Document (CCD) The HL7 CCD is the result of a collaborative effort between the He... More, Consolidated CDAClinical Document Architecture (CDA) HL7 CDA uses XML for encoding of the documents and breaks down ... More, HL7HL7 is a Standards Developing Organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute (... More v2, DICOMDigital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is a common format for image storage. It allo... More, and more. All of the metadata for the attached documents are defined in an attached file.

With XDMCross-enterprise Document Media Interchange (XDM) – What itss used for: According to IHE, XDM tran... More metadata available, the receiving application can make decisions about how to process the content, which further simplifies integration.

Direct messages can be viewed without the need to parse the document. Consolidated CDAClinical Document Architecture (CDA) HL7 CDA uses XML for encoding of the documents and breaks down ... More documents, for example, can be read without the need for computer processing.

Roles of an interface engine with Direct Project

Direct will function as other connection methods into and out of integration engines. However, the integration engine can determine how involved it will be in the formation of the Direct message.

A base level of Direct support would involve creating an unsecure MIME message and handing this off to a HISPHISP, or Health Information Service Provider, is an email service provider that follows Direct Proje... More. The HISPHISP, or Health Information Service Provider, is an email service provider that follows Direct Proje... More would then be responsible for encrypting the data with a public key, signing the payloadPayload refers to the content of the message being sent (i.e., the message body). with hash and a private key, and routing the message via SMTP to the receiving HISPHISP, or Health Information Service Provider, is an email service provider that follows Direct Proje... More.

A full participation in Direct would involve the integration engine performing the functions of a HISPHISP, or Health Information Service Provider, is an email service provider that follows Direct Proje... More, including encrypting and signing on the sending side and decrypting and authenticating on the receiving side along with managing all the certificates.

The engine could choose to only act as a HISPHISP, or Health Information Service Provider, is an email service provider that follows Direct Proje... More for messages that flow through the integration engine, or it could also act as a HISPHISP, or Health Information Service Provider, is an email service provider that follows Direct Proje... More for any other application that wants to send secure e-mails.

With Corepoint Integration Engine, Healthcare IT managers have complete control over their monitoring decisions to ensure connections remain operational. We listen closely to our customers and continuously work to improve how we help them meet any integration initiative with complete confidence.