Honest Broker System & Services of the RIS
Establishing a Collaborative Honest Broker Service
UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh facilitated the process for developing honest broker services by providing this template on the Pitt IRB web site. The Oncology Informatics Program of UPMC Cancer Centers took the initiative of developing the first, cross-divisional, collaborative broker service. The initial application for this service was submitted to the IRB on April 30, 2003 in accordance with UPMC Policy #HS-EC1611. Approval was received on May 8, 2003 (IRB Approval # HB015). There are currently 28 honest brokers included in this service: 12 from the Pathology/HSTB, 7 from Clinical Outcomes and 9 from Registry. All honest brokers involved with this service are certified in accordance with UPMC and University of Pittsburgh IRB policy. HB015 is used as the “gold-standard” model by the UPMC/University IRB. The Director of the Registry Research Information Service also manages the collaborative Honest Broker Service. This Honest Broker System was developed for the combined Centers for Pathology and Oncology Informatics (Director: Michael Becich, M.D., Ph.D.) and Center for Pathology Quality and Healthcare Research (Director: Stephen S. Raab, M.D.). These centers currently have multiple faculty, staff, and graduate students who perform research as inter-related groups. These groups include: the Health Sciences Tissue Bank (HSTB) and Pathology, Tissue Micro Array Shared Services, Clinical Outcomes and Registry Information Services (UPMC Network Cancer Registry) The mission of this Honest Broker Service is to ensure compliance with specific regulatory agency guidelines, including the Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the UPMC/University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the release of information, specifically PHI, involving data stored in applications developed, managed and/or utilized by CIS through the following objectives:Most Current IRB Approval Documents
Identity of the Honest Broker System or Process: - Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), UPMC Department of Pathology, Health Sciences Tissue Bank (HSTB), UPMC ISD / Pathology Informatics, UPMC ISD / Oncology Informatics and the UPMC Network Cancer Registry / UPMC Cancer Centers Registry Information Services (RIS) UPMC / IRB Honest Broker Approval Number: - HB015 IRB Application (Last Modified May 2009)
IRB Approval Letter 
Honest Broker Certification: - UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh have facilitated this process by establishing joint policies and procedures and web-based modules for individuals employed by the health system or university to become certified honest brokers. In accordance with UPMC policy HS-EC1807, brokers are
required to successfully test in the modules located below. At the completion of these modules, a certificate is generated for the individual.
Adding and/or Removing Brokers to/from the Service
Communication with leaders of each of the divisions involved in the collaborative honest broker service are conducted by the manager and administrative support teams to determine if there have been any new hires or terminations of individuals involved at the department levels.New brokers must first pass the education/certification modules as mentioned in the honest broker certification section above. In accordance with UPMC policy HS-EC1807, University of Pittsburgh employees must complete and sign a business associate agreement (BAA).
A complete revision of the application must be submitted to the IRB. Any brokers to be added or removed need to be reflected in the revision. A copy of any relevant BAAs must accompany the revision documents. Once the IRB approves, a letter is sent to the Manager of the service and all documents are distributed to members of the service.
