Feb. 11, 2019 —
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced a proposed new rule to require “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 seven exceptions are explained in one of nine fact sheets on the Website of The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The fact sheets appear as quick guides to the 724 page proposed regulations.
The fact sheets and full text of the proposed regulations can be downloaded at https://www.healthit.gov/topic/laws-regulation-and-policy/notice-proposed-rulemaking-improve-interoperability-health