Access to PHI, Guidance on HIPAA, and More

In This Issue

• NEW: Resources to Help Providers Maintain Access to Protected Health Information
• A Record to Rely On: A Workshop on the Intersection of Electronic Health Records, Health Law, Payment, and Oversight
• Sharing Consumer Health Information? Look to HIPAA and the FTC Act
• New Health IT and Medicaid Toolkits

NEW: Resources to Help Providers Maintain Access to Protected Health Information

As electronic health record (EHR) adoption becomes widespread, EHR customers look to EHR vendors to ensure that health information is available where and when it is needed. And yet many providers continue to face challenges when they seek access to protected health information (PHI)—challenges that could impact patient care and safety. That’s why we are highlighting two recent resources that improve the awareness of EHR vendors’ obligations to make health information available to their health care provider customers. Read the Buzz Blog post.

A Record to Rely On: A Workshop on the Intersection of Electronic Health Records, Health Law, Payment, and Oversight

ONC is holding a 1-day workshop focused on the use of clinical documentation—as captured by EHRs—in legal, payment, and oversight contexts. The workshop will bring together panels of experts to discuss the current landscape around how EHRs have been used as a record in the legal environment and for purposes such as medical documentation, claims support, audit trail records, and fraud identification.

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET

Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Room 800 200 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20201

Read more about the workshop and register to attend.

Sharing Consumer Health Information? Look to HIPAA and the FTC Act

Does your business collect and share consumer health information? When it comes to privacy, you’ve probably thought about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). But did you know that you also need to comply with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act? This means if you share health information, it’s not enough to simply consider the HIPAA regulations. You also must make sure your disclosure statements are not deceptive under the FTC Act.  The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has teamed up with the FTC to release new guidance to help you comply. View the OCR/FTC Guidance. 

New Health IT and Medicaid Toolkits

In coordination with CMS, we have created two toolkits for the Health Home State Plan Amendment and 1115 Demonstrations that are focused on health information exchange, health IT, and interoperability. States can use these toolkits as they are designing their Medicaid programs. Use of these tool kits will help states ensure they have the health IT capacity and infrastructure to accomplish their Medicaid program goals and identify and adopt a common set of health IT standards among states to promote information sharing. Check out the new health IT toolkits.