Dr. Farzad Mostashari | September 7, 2012
An overarching goal for ONC is that information follows the patient where and when it is needed, across organizational, vendor, and geographic boundaries. We believe that the current state of information exchange and care coordination is far from this ideal, and that in addition to technical challenges with interoperability, the absence of common “rules of the road” may be hindering the development of a trusted marketplace for information exchange services.
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Jodi G. Daniel | July 25, 2012
One of the promises of health IT is to provide patients easier access to their health information. This is a focus of ONC’s consumer e-health efforts and CMS’ meaningful use regulations. But this isn’t a new policy for HHS. In fact, we have ensured that patients have had a right to access their health information since 2002.
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Claudia Williams | July 18, 2012
The day is not far off when any hospital discharging a patient or doctor making a referral will be able to send along needed information seamlessly, electronically, and easily from their electronic health record (EHR) to the next point of care and to patients. This means safer, better and cheaper care.
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Lygeia Ricciardi | June 25, 2012
As Americans, we each have the legal right to access our health information held by doctors, hospitals and others that provide health care services for us, thanks to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. But 41 percent say they never have. Why? In a paper-based health care system, it can be time consuming, expensive, and cumbersome to get copies of your medical records. And what do you do with a stack—or maybe even a room full—of paper health records?
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Brett Andriesen | June 18, 2012
Reflect for a moment on the last time your doctor referred you to a specialist. When you arrived, did the specialist say, “Sorry, I did not get your paperwork, can you tell me why you are you here?” Wouldn’t it be great if your specialist already had the health information she needed before you arrived, so you did not have to remember your medications, previous tests, and diagnoses?
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