Federal Rules on Interoperability and Information Blocking, and open notes
Federal Rules mandating open notes
The program rule on Interoperability, Information Blocking, and ONC Health IT Certification, ONC's Cures Act Final Rule, which implements the 21st Century Cures Act passed in 2016, 21st Century Cures Act, requires patients be provided access to all the health information in their electronic medical records without charge by their healthcare provider beginning November 2, 2020.
OpenNotes is invested in the Cures Act because clinical notes are among the information that must not be blocked—and thus be made available to patients.
What notes must be shared?
The eight (8) types of clinical notes that must be shared are outlined in the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), and include:
• consultation notes
• discharge summary notes
• history & physical
• imaging narratives
• laboratory report narratives
• pathology report narratives
• procedure notes
• progress notes
What is the timeline for when these new rules go into effect?
Under this new rule, clinical notes must be shared by health systems by November 2, 2020, and shared with a patient’s 3rd party application (e.g., downloaded to a smart phone) by November 2, 2022.
Federal Rules mandating open notes
The program rule on Interoperability, Information Blocking, and ONC Health IT Certification, ONC's Cures Act Final Rule, which implements the 21st Century Cures Act passed in 2016, 21st Century Cures Act, requires patients be provided access to all the health information in their electronic medical records without charge by their healthcare provider beginning November 2, 2020.
OpenNotes is invested in the Cures Act because clinical notes are among the information that must not be blocked—and thus be made available to patients.
What notes must be shared?
The eight (8) types of clinical notes that must be shared are outlined in the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), and include:
• consultation notes
• discharge summary notes
• history & physical
• imaging narratives
• laboratory report narratives
• pathology report narratives
• procedure notes
• progress notes
What is the timeline for when these new rules go into effect?
Under this new rule, clinical notes must be shared by health systems by November 2, 2020, and shared with a patient’s 3rd party application (e.g., downloaded to a smart phone) by November 2, 2022.
