hitech act patient portal

How has the HITECH Act impacted EHR availability and patient portal access?

Dec 29, 2009 · The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was signed into law on February 17, 2009, to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. Subtitle D of the HITECH Act addresses the privacy and security concerns …

What is the HITECH Act?

According to HealthIT, the official government resource on the technological advances in healthcare, the HITECH Act “seeks to improve American health care delivery and patient care through an unprecedented investment in Health IT (HIT).” It does in the following ways: providing the necessary assistance and technical support to providers

What is HiTech compliance and how can it help?

Background: The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act imposes pressure on health care organizations to qualify for "Meaningful Use". It is assumed that portals should increase patient participation in medical decisions, but whether or not the use of portals improves outcomes remains to be seen.

What is section 13402 of the HITECH Act of 2009?

Feb 10, 2015 · The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act imposes pressure on health care organizations to qualify for “Meaningful Use”. It is assumed that portals should increase patient participation in medical decisions, but whether or not the use of portals improves outcomes remains to be seen. Objective

Does the Cures Act require a patient portal?

What does the HITECH Act do?

How do patient health information portals contribute to patient rights?

Are patient portals HIPAA compliant?

How do May the HITECH rules influence the design of patient care system?

What is HITECH Act in simple terms?

What should be in a patient portal?

What is a valid reason for denying an amendment request?

What is the purpose of patient portal?

Are patient portals confidential?

Is Facebook portal HIPAA compliant?

When did the HITECH Act become effective?

Section 13410 (d) of the HITECH Act, which became effective on February 18, 2009, revised section 1176 (a) of the Social Security Act (the Act) by establishing: Four categories of violations that reflect increasing levels of culpability; Four corresponding tiers of penalty amounts that significantly increase the minimum penalty amount ...

What is the interim final rule?

This interim final rule conforms HIPAA’s enforcement regulations to these statutory revisions that are currently effective under section 13410 (d) of the HITECH Act. This interim final rule does not make amendments with respect to those enforcement provisions of the HITECH Act that are not yet effective under the applicable statutory provisions.

What is the HITECH Act?

HITECH Act of 2009, 42 USC sec 139w-4 (0) (2) (February 2009), part 2, subtitle C, sec 13301, subtitle B, sec 3014: Competitive grants to States and Indian tribes for the development of loan programs to facilitate the widespread adoption of certified EHR technology.

What is HITECH in healthcare?

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Congress passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). HITECH changed the nature of the relationships among health care professionals, organizations, patients, and payors by focusing on the implementation and use of health information technology.

What is Stage 2 meaningful use?

Stage 2 meaningful use criteria will expand upon the Stage 1 criteria in the areas of disease management, clinical decision support, medication management support for patient access to their health information, transitions in care, quality measurement and research, and bidirectional communication with public health agencies.

What is protected health information?

The HIPAA regulations, in brief, prohibit the disclosure of individually identifiable health information, otherwise known as protected health information or PHI, without the consent of the patient (or guardian or other responsible person) except for three purposes: treatment, payment, or health care operations.

What is a business associate under HIPAA?

Under HIPAA, “business associates”—a term referring to people or entities who, on behalf of covered entities, perform tasks that necessitate access to PHI—were not directly regulated, but were bound to comply with HIPAA pursuant to mandatory written agreements with the covered entities.

Does HITECH require public notification?

HITECH mandates public notification of security breaches when “unsecure PHI” is disclosed or used for an unauthorized purpose. (“Secure PHI,” on the other hand, is not subject to such requirements because it is encrypted and cannot be breached [6].)

What is the act of obtaining PHI?

The act specifies that charges for such requests may only cover the labor cost of fulfilling the request. Although one might presume that such a request requires a few clicks, the reality is that even practices with an EHR system already in place may not have this capability.

What is the HITECH Act?

HITECH stands for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health. According to HealthIT, the official government resource on the technological advances in healthcare, the HITECH Act “seeks to improve American health care delivery and patient care through an unprecedented investment in Health IT (HIT).” It does in the following ways: 1 providing the necessary assistance and technical support to providers 2 enabling coordination and alignment within and among states 3 establishing connectivity to the public health community in case of emergencies 4 assuring the workforce is properly trained and equipped to be meaningful users of certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs).

Who is Nathan Boyd?

Nathan Boyd oversees the staff in our billing, credentialing, phone answering, and software development teams here at KASA Solutions as VP of Operations. He has worked in the mental health field for several years, having begun his career as an in-home counselor and spent time in management and running businesses, including a mental health agency before joining KASA. Nathan is passionate about the counseling field and assisting business owners in starting and growing their business.

Who has the right to access health records?

The Privacy Rule generally also gives the right to access the individual’s health records to a personal representative of the individual. Under the Rule, an individual’s personal representative is someone authorized under State or other applicable law to act on behalf of the individual in making health care related decisions. With respect to deceased individuals, the individual’s personal representative is an executor, administrator, or other person who has authority under State or other law to act on behalf of the deceased individual or the individual’s estate. Thus, whether a family member or other person is a personal representative of the individual, and therefore has a right to access the individual’s PHI under the Privacy Rule, generally depends on whether that person has authority under State law to act on behalf of the individual. See 45 CFR 164.502 (g) and 45 CFR 164.524.

Can a covered entity deny access to PHI?

A covered entity may deny an individual access to all or a portion of the PHI requested in only very limited circumstances. For example, a covered entity may deny an individual access if the information requested is not part of a designated record set maintained by the covered entity (or by a business associate for a covered entity), or the information is excepted from the right of access because it is psychotherapy notes or information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or for use in, a legal proceeding (but the individual retains the right to access the underlying PHI from the designated record set (s) about the individual used to generate this information).

Why is it important to have access to health information?

Providing individuals with easy access to their health information empowers them to be more in control of decisions regarding their health and well-being. For example, individuals with access to their health information are better able to monitor chronic conditions, adhere to treatment plans, find and fix errors in their health records, ...

What is the HIPAA Privacy Rule?

With limited exceptions, the HIPAA Privacy Rule (the Privacy Rule) provides individuals with a legal, enforceable right to see and receive copies upon request of the information in their medical and other health records maintained by their health care providers and health plans.

Why can't I access PHI?

An individual does not have a right to access PHI that is not part of a designated record set because the information is not used to make decisions about individuals. This may include certain quality assessment or improvement records, patient safety activity records, or business planning, development, and management records that are used for business decisions more generally rather than to make decisions about individuals. For example, a hospital’s peer review files or practitioner or provider performance evaluations, or a health plan’s quality control records that are used to improve customer service or formulary development records, may be generated from and include an individual’s PHI but might not be in the covered entity’s designated record set and subject to access by the individual.

Does HIPAA preempt PHI?

State laws that provide individuals with greater rights of access to their PHI than the Privacy Rule, or that are not contrary to the Privacy Rule, are not preempted by HIPAA and thus still apply. For example, a covered entity subject to a State law that requires that access to PHI be provided to an individual in a shorter time frame than that required in the Privacy Rule must provide such access within the shorter time frame because the State law is not contrary to the Privacy Rule.

Can I send a copy of my PHI to a third party?

Yes, but only within specific limits. The Privacy Rule permits a covered entity to impose a reasonable, cost-based fee to provide the individual (or the individual’s personal representative) with a copy of the individual’s PHI, or to direct the copy to a designated third party. The fee may include only the cost of certain labor, supplies, and postage:

Incentives

Stage 2 and 3 Criteria For Meaningful Use

Privacy and Security Under Hitech

Notification of Breach

Electronic Health Record Access

• When a health care practice or organization implements an EHR system, the act gives patients in those practices (or third parties they designate) the right to obtain their PHI in an electronic format. This requirement is similar to state laws that mandate patient access to their own paper medical records. The act specifies that charges for such req...

See more on journalofethics.ama-assn.org

Penalties and Enforcement

Conclusion