Serving the home health, home care and hospice industry since 1999.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently proposed a new rule to support seamless and secure access, exchange, and use of electronic health information (EHI).
The proposed rule is designed to increase innovation and competition by giving patients and their healthcare providers secure access to health information and new tools, allowing for more choice in care and treatment. It calls on the healthcare industry to adopt standardized application programming interfaces (APIs), which will help allow individuals to securely and easily access structured EHI using smartphone applications.
The proposed rule places a strong focus on a patient's ability to access their health information through a provision requiring that patients can electronically access all of their EHI (structured and/or unstructured) at no cost. Finally, to further support access and exchange of EHI, the proposed rule implements the information blocking provisions of the Cures Act. The rule proposes seven exceptions to the definition of information blocking.
The public comment period is now open for the proposed rule. We value all of your feedback – both positive and negative as it helps inform the rulemaking process. Below are the steps to submitting your comments:
Download the Proposed Rule [PDF - 3.2 MB]
Comment on the Proposed Rule
©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article is a reprint from HealthIT.gov. homecaretechreport.com editor@homecaretechreport.com