The Implementation of Federated Digital Identifiers in Health Care: Rapid Review

• Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
• Main Authors: Karishini Ramamoorthi, Vess Stamenova, Rebecca H Liu, Onil Bhattacharyya
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: JMIR Publications 2024
• Subjects: Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics; R858-859.7; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2196/45751; https://doaj.org/article/c00666fa85374c7d8f67094ba1da4210

BackgroundFederated digital identifiers (FDIs) have been cited to improve the interoperability of data and information management while enhancing the privacy of individuals verifying their identity on the web. Many countries around the world have implemented FDIs in various sectors, such as banking and government. Similarly, FDIs could improve the experience for those wanting to access their health care information; however, they have only been introduced in a few jurisdictions around the world, and their impact remains unclear. ObjectiveThe main objective of this environmental scan was to describe how FDIs have been established and implemented to enable patients’ access to health care. MethodsWe conducted this study in 2 stages, with the primary stage being a rapid review, which was supplemented by a targeted gray literature search. Specifically, the rapid review was conducted through a database search of MEDLINE and Embase, which generated a list of countries and their services that use FDIs in health care. This list was then used to conduct a targeted gray literature search using the Google search engine. ResultsA total of 93 references from the database and targeted Google searches were included in this rapid review. FDIs were implemented in health care in 11 countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan) and exclusively used with a patient-accessible electronic health record system through a single sign-on interface. The most common FDIs were implemented nationally or provincially, and establishing them usually required individuals to visit a bank or government office in person. In contrast, some countries, such as Australia, allow individuals to verify their identities entirely on the web. We found that despite the potential of FDIs for use in health care to facilitate the amalgamation of health information from different data sources into one platform, the adoption of most health care services that use FDIs remained below 30%. The ...