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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

The Office for Civil Right's new HIPAA random audit program is in effect and significantly increases enforcement procedures following breaches, Health Centers need to ensure that their organization is fully complying with HIPAA regulations while at the same time providing systems that meet modern health information sharing and communication requirements that allow for increaseed continuity of care.  

Health Centers will need the right privacy protections for health information, and the necessary documented policies and procedures per HIPAA regulations, as well as documentation of actions taken per the policies of their organization. The resources in this section provide best practices, strategies and templates for better understanding nuances of HIPAA regulations and how they pertain to a Health Center's specific setting.

HIPAA 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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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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