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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

In order to effectively protect health IT systems, Health Center IT leadership needs to consider not only the physical and technical measures of protection for their site, but also the human and workflow measures required to provide the highest levels of privacy and security available throughout their organization.

Resources provided in this section include a set of curated best practices and gold standards for protecting  and effectively responding to health IT system threats. 

Health IT Privacy & Security Best Practices

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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