Commonwealth Health Advisors June 22, 2020
In 2016, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act which was designed to help accelerate medical product development and bring new innovations and advances to patients who need them faster and more efficiently. On March 9th, just as the response to COVID-19 in the US was escalating, Congress passed a follow-up to the original Cures Act which specifically addressed interoperability and patient data access. The intent of these new provisions is to advance interoperability and support the access, exchange and use of electronic health information.
Patient control is a central component to the drive toward a value-based health care system. Putting patients in charge of their health records is key to enabling this control. More specifically, patient control and access...