SANTA CRUZ, CA – The Santa Cruz Health Information Exchange (HIE) is working on its user authentication and identity proofing to ensure patient privacy.


Anakam and Axolotl Corp. are working together to support the project, which uses Axolotl's Elysium Exchange and the Anakam Identity Suite to provide secure access on a scalable identity proofing and multi-factor authentication platform.


The service eliminates the need for Santa Cruz HIE to issue physical tokens, cards, or special devices to physicians, patients, and others who need secure access to health information. 


The Anakam Identity Suite is specifically created to deliver NIST Level 3 authentication through the use of an out-of-band expiring one-time pass code delivered via mobile phone, office phone, e-mail, or voice biometrics.

Working with the California Office of Health Information Integrity (CalOHII), the Santa Cruz HIE has designed a use case to assist in the development of state legislation around the security and privacy of patient information in electronic health records. 


"Patient and provider trust in a health information exchange is established through consistent and well implemented privacy and security practices," said Bill Braithwaite, MD, Anakam chief medical officer. 

Axolotl and Anakam are working together to integrate the full capabilities of the Anakam Identity Suite that includes user registration, fraud detection, anti-phishing, and multi-channel authentication through non-proprietary devices.


"Patient care will be radically improved as physicians and other providers have protected access to complete patient data online," said Bill Beighe, CIO of Santa Cruz HIE. "Federal and state regulations around electronic records are evolving. Using the Anakam Identity Suite will help keep patient information secure and allow appropriate sharing between healthcare providers without undue burdens."