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The Quadruple Aim
Quadruple Aim

A Conceptual Framework

Improving the U.S. health care system requires four aims: improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, reducing per capita costs and improving care team well-being. HITEQ Center resources seek to provide content and direction aligned with the goals of the Quadruple Aim

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Resource Overview

General cybersecurity guidance would suggest that Health IT breach should not be considered a matter of "If", but rather a matter of "when". How an organization prepares and responds to an episode of breach is just as important as defending itself from breach. Unfortunately, Health Centers are seen as a domain with high potential for data breach and consequently it is critical for Health Center leadership to embrace breach mitigation across their entire organization vs being a matter to be addressed by their Health IT team.

Breach can occur through both internal and external network leaks, through malware such as Ransomware, and through physical means on site. The resources provided below are meant to provide general knowledge about breach mitigation and methods for mitigating against breach incidences.

Breach Mitigation and Response Resources

Navigating Compliance Challenges with the Information Blocking Rule: A Collection of Case Studies
Molly Rafferty
/ Categories: EHR Implementation, Health Information Exchange, Relevance of HIE, Description of HIE, Implementation of HIE, Information Blocking, Promoting Interoperability, Privacy and Security, Privacy & Security Best Practices, HIPAA

Navigating Compliance Challenges with the Information Blocking Rule: A Collection of Case Studies

HITEQ Center and Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP, September 2023

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) 21st Century Cures Act Information Blocking Rule (Info Blocking Rule) prohibits covered actors – including health care providers, health IT developers of certified health IT, and health information exchanges/health information networks– from engaging in practices likely to interfere with, prevent, or materially discourage access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI). The Info Blocking Rule includes eight exceptions that provide actors with certainty that, when their practice interferes with the access, exchange, or use of EHI and meets the conditions of one or more exception, such practice will not be considered information blocking.1 An actor’s practice that does not meet all the conditions of an exception will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine whether information blocking has occurred.2

Since the Info Blocking Rule went into effect in 2021, EHI has become more available than ever as it is posted to portals, sent through health information exchanges, and available via health-related apps upon request by patients.3 As the availability of EHI has increased, so too have concerns about the privacy of EHI. Like other actors, health centers are faced with new compliance challenges, including how to best protect sensitive EHI, how to respond to patient requests to restrict access to their EHI, and how to respond when patients request changes to their EHI. Health centers must navigate complex and, at times, conflicting federal and state laws and regulations.

The case studies in this Issue Brief demonstrate recent compliance challenges faced by health centers. Each includes a review of the applicable federal, legal, and regulatory requirements and recommendations for navigating conflicting requirements.

Download the resource in the Documents to Download Section below.

1 45 CFR 171.200; 45 CFR 171.300.
2 “Frequently Asked Questions,” HealthIT.gov, The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), April 2023, https://www.healthit.gov/faq/would-it-be-information-blocking-if-actor-does-not-fulfill-request-access-exchange-or-use-ehi.

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Tags: health information exchangeCase StudyPrivacy and Confidentialitycase exampleHIPAAconfidentialityelectronic health informationprivacyprivacy & securityinformation blockinginformation exchangePrivacy and Securityinformation blocking ruleEPE Badgeinformation blocking badge

Documents to download

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Acknowledgements

This resource collection was cultivated and developed by the HITEQ team with valuable suggestions and contributions from HITEQ Project collaborators.

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