The Office of the National Coordination for Health Information Technology (ONC) and HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) are pushing for increased interoperability and fewer hurdles when it comes to sharing health information.
Representatives from both organizations discussed HIPAA’s Privacy Rule and how it can be a tool for interoperability in healthcare in a recent blog post on the ONC’s website.
“While the portability provision in HIPAA refers to the portability of health insurance coverage for individuals and their families, today we want to talk about the ‘P’ in HIPAA also signifying the secure portability—or the flow—of health information across the health ecosystem,” wrote Kathryn Marchesini, the ONC's chief privacy officer; and Timothy Noonan, the OCR's acting deputy director for health information privacy.
In the post, the two noted HIPAA supports data portability and allows people to request and receive copies of their medical information from HIPAA-covered entities. They said the agencies encourage providers to promptly respond to medical records requests by providing immediate access. Providers are also encouraged to take advantage of technologies that provide people easier and quicker access to their records.
The blog post also states several government agencies are promoting the portability of health information by encouraging the “development, refinement and use of health information technology (health IT) to provide healthcare providers, health plans and individuals and their personal representatives the ability to more rapidly access, exchange and use health information electronically."
“Our interoperability efforts focus on improving individuals’ ability to access and share their health information to better enable them to shop for and coordinate their own care,” Marchesini and Noonan wrote. “We are dedicated to putting patients first, allowing them to be empowered consumers of healthcare by making the information they need to be engaged and active decision-makers in their care available on their smartphones or other mobile devices.”
Danielle covers Clinical Innovation & Technology as a senior news writer for TriMed Media. Previously, she worked as a news reporter in northeast Missouri and earned a journalism degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She's also a huge fan of the Chicago Cubs, Bears and Bulls.