On March 24, 2014, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report describing the challenges facing users of Electronic Health Records (EHR) seeking to electronically exchange health information.  According to the GAO’s report, issues arise because of “insufficient standards [for EHR], concerns about how privacy rules can vary among states, difficulties in matching patients to their records, and costs associated with [the] exchange [of health information].”  For example, GAO cited provider complaints about EHR systems that lack interoperability to share information and costs associated with purchasing and implementing EHR systems.  In response to these findings, GAO recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology “(1) develop and prioritize specific actions . . . to advance health information exchange, and (2) develop milestones with time frames for the actions to better gauge progress toward advancing exchange, with appropriate adjustments over time.”

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Covington Digital Health Team

Stakeholders across the healthcare, technology and communications industries seek to harness the power of data and information technology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their products, solutions and services, create new and cutting-edge innovations, and achieve better outcomes for patients. Partnering with…

Stakeholders across the healthcare, technology and communications industries seek to harness the power of data and information technology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their products, solutions and services, create new and cutting-edge innovations, and achieve better outcomes for patients. Partnering with lawyers who understand how the regulatory, IP, and commercial pieces of the digital health puzzle fit together is essential. Covington offers unsurpassed breadth and depth of expertise and experience concerning the legal, regulatory, and policy issues that affect digital health products and services. To learn more, click here.