Show Us the Data: The Critical Role Health Information Plays in Health System Transformation

Abstract

Truly transforming the healthcare delivery and payment system turns on the ability to engage in the interoperable electronic exchange of patient health information across and beyond the care continuum. Achieving transformation requires a legal framework that supports information sharing with appropriate privacy and security protections and a trusted governance structure.

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References

See, e.g., The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

“Benefits of Health IT,”

available at <https://www.healthit.gov/patients-families/benefits-health-it> (last visited November 7, 2016); Health Information Technology Initiative, Bipartisan Policy Center, Clinician Perspectives on Electronic Health Information Sharing for Transitions of Care (2012), available at <http://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/default/files/Clinician%20Survery_format%20(2).pdf> (November 7, 2016).

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A 10-Year Vision to Achieve an Interoperable Health IT Infrastructure (2014), available at <https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/ONC10yearInteroperabilityConceptPaper.pdf> (last visited November 7, 2016).

Id., at 2-3.

Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115 (2009) (codified in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.).

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010) (codified in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.).

HITECH Act, supra note 4 at § 4201.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014 (April 2015), available at <https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/data-brief/2014HospitalAdoptionDataBrief.pdf> (last visited November 7, 2016): at 1.

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Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), “Medicare's Post-Acute Care: Trends and Ways to Rationalize Payments,” Report to Congress, March 2015, available at <http://www.medpac.gov/documents/reports/chapter-7-medicare's-post-acute-care-trends-and-ways-to-rationalize-payments-(march-2015-report).pdf?sfvrsn=0>.

10.

See, e.g.,

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11.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Pub. L. No. 104-191, 110 Stat. 139 (1996) (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.).

12.

Privacy Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-579, 88 Stat. 1896 (codified as amended at 5 U.S.C. § 552a).

13.

45 C.F.R. Part 46, Subparts A-E (2015).

14.

42 C.F.R. Part 2 (2015).

15.

See HITECH Act, supra note 4 at § 13404 (mandating changes to HIPAA) and HIPAA Omnibus Rulemaking, 78 Fed. Reg. 17, 5566-702 (2013); Common Rule NPRM, 80 Fed. Reg. 173, 53933-54061 (2015); Part 2 NPRM, 81 Fed. Reg. 26, 6988-7024 (2016); Florida Medical Association v. U.S. Department of HEW, 947 F.Supp.2d 1325 (M.D. Fla. 2013) (changing application of Privacy Act/FOIA to Medicare provider-level claims data).

16.

Health Information & the Law Project, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, “Health Information & the Law,” available at <www.healthinfolaw.org> (last visited November 7, 2016) (summaries of state laws governing health information and 50-state comparative maps available online).

17.

See, e.g., Health Information & the Law Project, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, “Disclosure of Mental Health Records Pursuant to a Court Order: 50 State Comparison,” available at <http://www.healthinfolaw.org/comparative-analysis/disclosure-mental-health-records-pursuant-court-order-50-state-comparison> (last visited November 7, 2016) and “Disclosure of Mental Health Records with Patient Consent: 50 State Comparison,” available at <http://www.healthinfolaw.org/comparative-analysis/disclosure-mental-health-records-patient-consent-50-state-comparison> (last visited November 7, 2016).

18.

See, e.g., The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, available at <https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/hie-interoperability/nationwide-interoperability-roadmap-final-version-1.0.pdf> (November 7, 2016).

19.

See, e.g., NORC, University of Chicago, “Healthcare Information Interoperability” in VIable Solutions: Six Steps to Transform Healthcare Now, report for the Healthcare Leadership Council, February 17, 2016, at 18-27, available at <http://ndhi.org/files/6414/5565/8017/VIable_Solutions_Final_Report.pdf> (last visited November 7, 2016).