On March 9, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized two data sharing rules aimed at making it easier for patients to access their clinical and claims information from providers and insurers, as instructed by the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act. The rules are part of President Trump's MyHealthEData initiative, designed to empower patients to make better health care decisions in part through enhanced access and control of their personal health information. The final rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires CMS-regulated payers to adopt standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow patients to easily access their claims and encounter information while also requiring hospitals to send electronic admissions, discharge, and transfer notifications certain providers. The companion Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology final rule requires health IT vendors to make patient data downloadable using a common data sharing standard and specific API criterion, and outlines what will constitute "information blocking."

The attached Alert has details.

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ATTACHMENT

Interoperability Rule