Minor and Parental Access to Patient Portals
National and State-based examples and use cases
This guide provides examples and overviews of patient portal considerations for minors as it relates to Meaningful Use, HIPAA. state consent laws and associated policies. The articles and presentations included for download and linked to from related websites currently include examples from the following national and state guidelines:
- National-level Minors' Consent Laws by State
- California
- Minnesota
- New York
As appropriate material is identified, further states will be included. If you are aware of relevant documentation within your state, even if already included, please send to HITEQinfo@jsi.com.
Please Note: This article and the material within is meant to provide general information and awareness of considerations for minors as it relates to patient portals and should not be considered legal counsel for structuring policies around minor's data.
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| Intended Audience | Health Center Leadership |
Resource Links
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Managing the Privacy and Security of Patient PortalsA presentation from the Sutter Health Mayo Clinic perspective of Rochester, Minnesota
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Patient Portals: Considerations for MinorsAn overview with a California state example by the Center for Democracy and Technology
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An Overview of Minors' Consent Law from the Guttmacher InstituteThe legal ability of minors to consent to a range of sensitive health care services—including sexual and reproductive health care, mental health services and alcohol and drug abuse treatment—has expanded dramatically over the past 30 years. This trend reflects the recognition that, while parental involvement in minors’ health care decisions is desirable, many minors will not avail themselves of important services if they are forced to involve their parents. With regard to sexual and reproductive
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A link to the Electronic Access to Adolescents' Health Records: Legal, Policy, and Practice Implications article from the American Academy of Family PhysiciansIn the age of the electronic health record (EHR), how can we balance adolescent confidentiality with the need to involve parents in adolescents' care? This was the question faced by the clinical and management staff of the Institute for Family Health, a network of federally qualified health centers in New York, when it sought to provide adolescent patients access to their health information through an online portal.
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A link to the AHIMA article on Parental Proxy Access via Web Portals: Ensuring Compliance and Quality DocumentationAllowing parental proxy access to a child’s records is not quite as easy as it may sound. An organization is not just releasing information to the patient, it is releasing information about a patient to another individual. Organizations must address a number of issues before allowing parents to access their children’s medical records via Web portals.
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A link to the Patient Engagement HIT article titled Balancing Patient Portal Privacy and Access for Pediatric CareAt what point do providers begin asking pediatric patients to take responsibility and ownership of their health by controlling their own portal? How do privacy rules affect child portal access and treatment access? And how do providers still encourage patients to build a strong support system by involving their parents in their care?