New Rules Expand Patient Access to Their Own Medical Records
Under newly implemented federal rules of the 21st Century Cures Act 2022, patients across the country gained unfettered access to their full health records in electronic format, without the need for fax machines or exorbitant charges for printed pages.
Why Is This Important?
Easy access to health records puts the patient in control of decisions regarding their health and well-being. It allows patients to monitor their health conditions better, understand and stay on track with treatments, and find and fix errors in their record.
Errors in medical documentation occur with some frequency and with the sharing of electronic records between providers, the risk of an error spreading throughout a patient’s medical providers is all too real. A slip of the tongue by one provider, resulting in reference to the left shoulder for example, instead of the right shoulder, could alter a patient’s records going forward. This error can be carried forward from record to record by virtue of the electronic medical record sharing process impacting the quality of patients’ future care and health outcomes.
In addition to discovering incorrect records and errors, greater access to electronic health information improves communication, especially for patients with chronic illness or severe injuries, giving patients ownership of their own care and providing them with the opportunity to assist in ensuring that their medical records are more complete and accurate.
Studies show access to electronic health records offers benefits ranging from reassurance, reduced anxiety, positive impact on consultations, better doctor patient relationships, and increased awareness and adherence to medications.
The Law Requires Patients Have Access To Their Medical Records.
Although technically, patients have had the right to access their medical records and electronic health information for sometime in accordance with HIPAA and the CURES ACT (passed in 2016), The system was still not working for many patients.
Even with those laws in place, there are numerous barriers to patients access to their own records. Many providers outsourced records’ requests to third-party companies who imposed rules regarding the ways in which patient records could be provided, requiring either that they be printed at significant cost or that they be provided in electronic formats that some patients couldn’t access for lack of the appropriate technology.
New Rules Aimed At Improving Patient Access
According to the new rules that went into effect in October 2022, patients should now have unprecedented access to all of their medical data. Medical providers and their representative data brokers, will need to make that information available to patients digitally at their request.
At Rice Law Office, P.L.L.C., we regularly work with our clients to access their medical records as related to their serious injury, illness and rights to benefits and insurance, because access to accurate and complete medical records is at the heart of the work we do in helping our clients to maximize their rights and benefits when they suffer a serious injury or illness.
Applications for Worker’s Compensation, disability insurance, employee benefits, Social Security, pensions, critical job protections, wage replacements and coverages for medical bills all begin with and depend upon access to accurate and complete medical records.
Every law and rule that improves this access, decreases costs and obstacles to patients’ access to their own medical records is an important step toward improving medical care, medical outcomes and access to important benefits.
To learn more about how you can protect yourself after a serious work injury or how to maximize your benefits after a serious injury or illness, call us at 603-528-5299.
