September 25, 2023
By Bart Howe
Two new notices of proposed rulemaking from Washington, DC, could further complicate the release of medical records. Here’s what you need to know.
A medical record is dynamic, with new information being added as a patient visits a physician, undergoes a procedure, gets a diagnosis, and interacts with the healthcare ecosystem in any other way. As a result, there are thousands of unstructured and discrete data points contained in a patient’s medical record, including clinical notes, lab reports, test results, and financial data.
When a patient or other authorized party requests the release of medical records, it can be complicated. Every time a medical record is requested, an organization must consider if that requesting organization or individual is authorized to access that patient’s medical records, and what portion of the information in that record should be released. Two new notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on substance abuse and reproductive rights, if implemented, could potentially add to this complication. To read the full article, visit Journal of AHIMA.
