electronic health records Archives

Preparing Your Data for a Post-COVID-19 World

by Stephen W. Bernstein, Bernadette M. Broccolo and Scott Weinstein | Jul 30, 2020 | Big Data, Data Transfers/Safe Harbor/Privacy Shield

The US healthcare system’s data infrastructure needs an overhaul to prepare for future health crises, streamline patient care, improve data sharing and accessibility among patients, providers and government entities, and move toward the delivery of coordinated care. With insights from leaders from Arcadia, Validic and McDermott, we recently discussed key analyses and updates on the interoperability and application programming interfaces (API) criteria from the 21st Century Cures Act, stakeholder benefits of healthcare data exchange and data submission facilitation for public health purposes. Click here to listen to the webinar recording, and read on for highlights from the program.

To learn more about the “Around the Corner” webinar series and attend an upcoming program, click here.

PROGRAM INSIGHTS

COVID-19 is reshaping healthcare through technology. Hospitals, clinicians and payors need to use digital health tools to address the challenges of the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health pandemic. How COVID-19 data and health information are captured, and then move through electronic systems, will form the foundation by which digital health tools can become effective in identifying cases, treating them and ensuring favorable outcomes.
API certification requirements under the 21st Century Cures Act are designed to enhance the accessibility of electronic health information. The 21st Century Cures Act’s purpose is to advance interoperability, address information blocking, support seamless exchange of electronic health information and promote patient access. Putting data from electronic health records (EHRs) into patients’ hands through consumer-facing apps will empower them to understand and take control of their health.
EHR vendors will be required to offer APIs that comply with the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR) standard by May 1, 2022. The 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule will require EHR vendors to offer FHIR based APIs that make electronic health information more readily available to third-party applications (apps) of patients’ and providers’ choosing. API standardization will make it easier for third-party developers to build these apps, and for patients and providers wishing to use third-party apps to leverage their electronic health information for various purposes, including health information exchange and population health management.

Interoperability refers to the standards that make it possible for different EHR systems to exchange patient medical records and information between providers. Increased interoperability between EHR systems using harmonized standards allows for a more seamless transfer of patient data between providers. The interoperability requirements in the 21st Century Cures Act have the potential to advance patient access to their data and the use of information among physicians.
Both providers and patients can drive data exchange. One challenge impacting data exchange between patients and providers is that providers cannot always access or integrate data that patients have created with third-party tools (e.g., fitness trackers). However, there is emerging technology designed to aggregate and standardize consumer-generated health information, [...]

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Blockchain: Health Care’s Next Great Disruptor?

by Lee A. Schneider | Jan 5, 2018 | Big Data, Consumer Protection, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, Ecommerce, General Interest, Telehealth

Blockchain is rapidly becoming the focus of conversations regarding health care disruption, and for good reason. What started out as a means for cryptocurrency is now making waves in a variety of industries, set to revolutionize how data is stored and shared.

The inability to easily and securely store and share data has long been a burden on the health system. Blockchain poses a solution to that through encryption and highly advanced technological assets which open the doors to health care innovation. Today we see blockchain being used with electronic health records (EHRs) so that a patient’s medical history is easily accessible to him/her, as well as his/her doctors, insurance providers, etc. It’s also providing the “how” in implementing value-based payment agreements, which link payment to performance of a drug or medical device. Blockchain is currently being used both in the private and public sectors, including the FDA and the CDC. While the full potential of this new technology is not yet known, the industry seems eager to find out.

Ahead of this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, we sat down with Lee Schneider, our top blockchain thought leader, to talk specifically about how this new technology is revolutionizing (or has the potential to revolutionize) the health care space. (more…)

ONC’s De-Regulatory Announcement Aims at Enticing Industry to Adopt 2015 Edition Criteria

by Scott Weinstein | Nov 6, 2017 | Big Data, Consumer Protection, Cybersecurity, Mobile Apps, Telehealth

In September, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced that it is scaling back requirements for third-party certification of criteria related to certified electronic health record (EHR) technology (CEHRT). Going forward, ONC will allow health developers to self-declare their products’ conformance with 30 of the 55 certification criteria.

ONC will also exercise discretion and not enforce the requirement that certification bodies conduct randomized surveillance of two percent of the health IT certifications they issue.

Read “ONC’s De-Regulatory Announcement Aims at Enticing Industry to Adopt 2015 Edition Criteria.”

Digital Health’s Perfect Storm of Regulators

by McDermott Will & Emery, Bernadette M. Broccolo and Lisa Mazur | Dec 19, 2016 | General Interest, Telehealth

Both developers and users of digital health solutions face both immense opportunities and daunting challenges. One key challenge is compliance with the often complex state and federal laws and regulations adopted by the numerous regulatory bodies responsible for overseeing different aspects of digital health. The following illustration identifies the numerous regulatory bodies that have been increasingly focused on the use of technology in healthcare and are expected to continue their focus and enforcement activities in the coming years.

ODI blog

Because innovation is moving faster than the law in this area, in-house counsel and compliance officers must be prepared to identify and manage the myriad compliance and liability risk considerations arising from participation in and use of digital health tools. This will require an understanding of how each of these regulatory bodies oversees and regulates digital health today and close monitoring of how that evolves and changes in the future.

Health care providers, patients and consumers should approach the selection and use of digital health advancements with a reasonable degree of caution. As AMA CEO James L. Madara, MD, advised in his address at the recently concluded 2016 AMA Annual Meeting, “…. Appearing in disguise among these positive products are other digital so-called advancements that do not have an appropriate evidence base … or that just do not work well or that actually impede care, confuse patients and waste our time … from ineffective electronic health records to an explosion of direct-to-consumer digital health products to apps, some of which are of poor quality.” In this regard, providers would be well served by performing sufficient “due diligence” to determine whether the functionality of the digital health tool effectively meets their specific clinical and operational needs, as well as the needs of their patients, and to evaluate the developer’s compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

End of Year Attention to Health IT and Digital Health Tools in 21st Century Cures

by Daniel F. Gottlieb, Jennifer S. Geetter, Karen S. Sealander, Lisa Mazur and Scott Weinstein | Dec 13, 2016 | Consumer Protection, Data Privacy, Telehealth

On December 7, 2016, the US Congress approved the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures legislation), which is intended to accelerate the “discovery, development and delivery” of medical therapies by encouraging public and private biomedical research investment, facilitating innovation review and approval processes, and continuing to invest and modernize the delivery of health care. The massive bill, however, also served as a vehicle for a variety of other health-related measures, including provisions relating to health information technology (HIT) and related digital health initiatives. President Barack Obama has expressed support for the Cures legislation and is expected to sign the bill this month.

The HIT provisions of the Cures legislation in general seek to:

Reduce administrative and regulatory burdens associated with providers’ use of electronic health records (EHRs)
Advance interoperability
Promote standards for HIT
Curb information blocking
Improve patient care and access to health information in EHRs

As public and private payers increasingly move from fee-for-service payments to value-based payment models, with a focus on maximizing health outcomes, population health improvement, and patient engagement, HIT—including EHRs and digital health tools—will be increasingly relied upon to collect clinical data, measure quality and cost effectiveness; assure continuity of care between patients and providers in different locations; and develop evidence-based clinical care guidelines.

Read the full article.

Preparing Your Data for a Post-COVID-19 World

Blockchain: Health Care’s Next Great Disruptor?

ONC’s De-Regulatory Announcement Aims at Enticing Industry to Adopt 2015 Edition Criteria

Digital Health’s Perfect Storm of Regulators

End of Year Attention to Health IT and Digital Health Tools in 21st Century Cures

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