At the beginning of the year, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a public guidance reminding the healthcare industry that HIPAA gives patients the right to access their own health records. Now, HHS, via the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, is trying to make the guidance easier to implement.
Thursday, ONC and the HHS Office for Civil Rights — which enforces HIPAA — released three videos (below) and an infographic (above) informing consumers of their rights.
“The videos we released today highlight the basics for individuals to get access to their electronic health information and direct it where they wish, including to third-party applications,” ONC Chief Privacy Officer Lucia Savage said in a statement.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
On the final day of its annual meeting in Washington, ONC also debuted the Patient Engagement Playbook, an online resource to help hospitals and medical practices better engage patients through health IT.
“The Playbook we’re releasing today provides clinicians with the resources they need to get the most out of their health IT and help patients put their electronic information to work to better manage their health,” ONC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tom Mason said.
ONC promised to update the document based on response from the public. “We hope that stakeholders — including patients, patient advocates, providers and others — share their input, feedback, and additional use cases that could be added to the Playbook in the future,” said Sherilyn Pruitt, director of ONC’s Office of Programs.
Given the length of the videos, 3-5 minutes each, don’t expect to see them appear on TV as public-service announcements or paid advertisments.
It would, however, make sense for healthcare providers to show these videos on monitors in waiting rooms, on tablets for patient registration and on their websites.
Image: Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
