SMART Health Card Emerging As Model For Sharing Covid Vaccine Data

In recent times, as the demand for proof of COVID vaccination status has climbed, the healthcare industry has scrambled to find effective ways of sharing vaccine data between varied locations. As readers know, sharing any kind of health data is still a best a challenge, but given the circumstances, most parties involved don’t have a choice about making it happen.

In recent times, healthcare organizations have found new ways to make such sharing possible. These approaches sidestep relying on data sharing between institutions and instead, involve third-party technology.

One model that seems to be working is the SMART Health Card, which offers a FHIR-based trusted standard for vaccine verification. While it’s unclear how much use it’s getting as a receptacle for longitudinal patient records, it seems to be growing in importance as a tool allowing patients to provide their vaccination information.

The card, which was developed by a private-public partnership of technology companies called the Vaccination Credential Institute, offers a lightweight vehicle for presenting such information to anyone who needs it. The steering group managing the project includes representatives from the Mayo Clinic, MITRE Corporation, Microsoft, The Commons Project Foundation, Evernorth, CARIN Alliance, USC San Diego Health and Apple.

People can keep their SMART card in paper form, or as a digital file on their phone, computer or anywhere else they store digital information. They can share their card by letting someone scan its associated QR code, or sending it as a file or via a phone app.

Users sometimes store their vaccine information in trusted environments such as LA Wallet app, which houses Louisiana’s legal digital driver’s license. LA Wallet’s capabilities include the ability to provide a trustworthy display of the holder’s digital COVID-19 vaccination record on file with the state’s Department of Health.

The card can also access results from tools like New York State’s Excelsior Pass, which offers secure proof of not only an individual’s COVID-19 vaccination record but also any relevant negative test results.

The card is now available in nine states, including California, Colorado, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Virginia and Washington, and also Puerto Rico. In addition, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Oregon plan to roll out SMART Health Card based-apps shortly. About 20 other states could join the list early next year, according to an article appearing in Forbes.

This stands in sharp relief to the seeming failure of a vaccine data-sharing effort mounted by the federal government. According to fellow Healthcare IT Today contributor Joachim Neto, few states signed on to implement the CDC’s $44 million COVID-19 vaccination tracking system, which apparently was bogged down by various technical issues.

What makes the SMART Health Card approach distinctive is that it doesn’t require the use of a central database. All vaccine data is encrypted and stored on the card, and when the QR code is pulled up, only the person’s name, date of birth and vaccination information are visible.

This effort offers a look at how such cards can help people share important health data sets with various parties – and trusted versions of the data at that. While we don’t seem to be ready to build health data exchanges around complete patient data histories carried by individuals, this case suggests we might want to look at other opportunities to let patients bring small amounts of shareable health data with them.

About the author

Anne Zieger

Anne Zieger is a healthcare journalist who has written about the industry for 30 years. Her work has appeared in all of the leading healthcare industry publications, and she's served as editor in chief of several healthcare B2B sites.

   

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