The 800-pound gorilla at the center of health information transformation is the patient. This sleeping giant is slowly emerging from hibernation, and watch out when it wakes up. Folded into ARRA’s HITECH Act are provisions that require health care providers to “Provide patients and families with access to data, knowledge, and tools to make informed decisions and to manage their health.” If you are a caregiver, or manage a chronic disease, this policy will have a profound effect on you. While my sister and brother battled terminal aggressive cancers, it was their caregiver who carried the pharmacological list of medications, nutritional supplements, allergies, adverse reactions, near fatal overdoses, sleep patterns,…
Tag: PHRs
FTC Posts NPRM on Breach Notification Rule for e-Health Information
On April 17, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that requires vendors of personal health records and related entities such as non-profit organizations that offer PHRs, to notify individuals when the security of their individually identifiable health information is breached. The NPRM seeks to conform with rules from HHS that safeguard protected health information, but the FTC proposed rule applies to non HIPAA-covered entities that are not subject to HIPAA privacy and security requirements. Of the many comments the FTC seeks is to identify entities that would fall under this ruling. We believe this rule will strengthen the trust consumers/patients have in sharing information in their…
Personal Health Records (PHRs) and the HIPAA Privacy Rule
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights Download (Requires Acrobat Reader)