AHIMA Warns About Privacy Risks in ONC Information Blocking Rule

By Fred Donovan

September 24, 2019 - The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) along with six other healthcare organizations are warning that the proposed the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) information blocking rule could jeopardize healthcare interoperability efforts by increasing health data privacy risks.

In a Sept. 23 letter to Congress, the groups advocated for changes to the proposed rule out of concerns of inappropriate data disclosures that could hinder patient care.

Other groups signing the letter included the American Medical Informatics Association, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, the Federation of American Hospitals, the Medical Group Management Association, and Premier.

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The associations supported certain provisions of the ONC’s proposed rule, such as the adoption of application programming interface standards, electronic health record certification, and EHR vendor business practices and behavior. In addition, they support the move to improve patient matching, patient safety, and enhanced care coordination.

To address the perceived shortcomings in the ONC proposed rule, the organizations urge the agency to adopt four recommendations:

Additional rulemaking: ONC should seek more input from stakeholders on issues such as modifying the information blocking proposal to ensure requirements and exceptions are well-defined and understandable, and clinicians, hospitals and health IT professionals are not penalized if they are unable to provide a patient’s electronic health data through an API.

Improved privacy and security protections: The proposed rule does not sufficiently address the legislative directives to protect patient data privacy and ensure health IT security. It is important that Congress oversee privacy and security issues that fall outside of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulatory framework. This includes ensuring certified APIs have mechanisms to strengthen patients’ control over their data, such as privacy notices, transparency statements, and adherence to industry-recognized best practices.

Reasonable implementation timelines: ONC should establish reasonable timelines for mandated use of certified health IT. Providers should be given enough time to deploy and test these systems, which must consider competing regulatory mandates.

Revised enforcement: The ONC should use discretion in its enforcement of the information blocking provisions of the regulation, prioritizing education and corrective action plans over financial penalties.

“We support the intent of the Cures Act to eradicate practices that unreasonably limit the access, exchange and use of electronic health information for authorized and permitted purposes that have frustrated care coordination and improvements in healthcare quality and efficiency,” said AHIMA CEO Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD.

“However, in light of the lessons learned from the meaningful use program, we believe it is crucial that we get this right. We look forward to discussing the details of these recommendations with congressional staff and ONC,” Wiggs concluded.

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AHIMA Warns About Privacy Risks in ONC Information Blocking Rule

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) along with six other healthcare organizations are warning that the ONC information blocking rule could jeopardize healthcare interoperability efforts by increasing health data privacy risks.

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