In the ever-changing world of regulations, proposed rules regularly make the news circuit, but few have the potential impact to record processing as the two new Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) released by HHS. Related to the sensitive worlds of substance abuse disorders and reproductive health, these NPRMs seek to improve patient privacy safeguards, which is a positive reflection on the agency’s desire to protect patient health data. However, the workflow impact of each of these rules could be massive, and it is our duty as a release of information partner is to inspect, comment on and educate legislators about how these proposed rules could impact the industry.
As president of AHIOS and HealthMark CEO, Bart Howe sought an opportunity to express all of this, and more in the Journal of AHIMA, laying out the key concerns these NPRMS bring to light.
“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.
Organizations such as AHIMA and the Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services (AHIOS) are carefully watching these proposed rules, as both would have a significant impact on the systems, processes, and workflows related to releasing medical records. But that’s not to say that these proposed changes are bad – in fact, both are a positive (and necessary) step toward providing increased patient privacy protections in our ever-evolving healthcare landscape. AHIOS’s goal is simply to educate lawmakers, providers, and patients about the impact these changes would have on the process of medical record release.”