HIE-ho, HIE-ho, it’s off to Court ACLU Goes
The Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RI-DOH) was sued last week in connection with RI-DOH’s proposed rules for implementing and enforcing the State’s health information exchange(HIE) under the Rhode Island Health Information Exchange Act of 2008 (HIE Act).
The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the Complaint alleging that:
the proposed rules failed to comply with the HIE’s statutory mandates by not addressing provisions in the statute that require adoption of regulations on certain specific issues to further promote the confidentiality, security, due process and informed consent due the affected patients
The ACLU argues that the RI-DOH cannot supplement gaps in the proposed rules through the adoption of policies and that the RI-DOH must address these concerns through Rhode Island’s public rulemaking process in order to fulfill its obligations under the HIE Act. However, the RI-DOH has countered that the policies provide sufficient safeguards to protect patients’ information while offering more flexibility to make adjustments quickly as national standards for privacy and security in the HIE context continue to evolve rapidly.
The lawsuit serves as an example of how important these concerns are to the public as well as highlights the potential for challenges to others developing HIE regulations. This case is worth watching closely to see how it develops.
This post was prepared by Krystyna Nowik. Krystyna is a graduate of Seton Hall Law School, with a concentration in Health Law. She works with Oscislawski LLC on various Health Information Exchange matters and is a guest contributor to Legal HIE.
