When DHHS published its Proposed ACO Rule in April 2011 and then the Final ACO Rule in November 2011 (I’ll refer to them as the “ACO Rules”), discussions focused predominately on issues such as who is “qualified” to participate, what the required governance structure should be, what methodology will be used to assign Medicare beneficiaries, and what the payment models will be.  However, as I digested the ACO Rules, my reading deliberately slowed down as I zeroed in on the not unremarkable language and comments CMS included with regard to sharing individually identifiable health information in the ACO context.

California HIE Demonstration Projects to Move Ahead with Opt-In Framework This past Wednesday, the California Office of Health Information Integrity (CalOHII) released a comprehensive whitepaper examining patient consent and other HIE framework efforts for entities participating in the...

Maine Reverts Back to Opt-Out Approach for HIE In my previous post (April 26, 2011), I discussed legislation proposed by privacy advocates in Maine which would require, among other things, that patients “opt-in” before any information could be collected, accessed or disclosed through...

Maine Considers Opt-In Requirement for HIEs New legislation has been proposed by privacy advocates in Maine that would govern how patient information is shared through the statewide HIE, HealthInfoNet.  LD 1337, which is entitled “The Act to Ensure Patient Privacy and Control with...