HHS’ privacy and security “Tiger Team” recently recommended that health care providers offer patients easy-to-understand, layered notices about how health information exchanges will use and protect their medical data, Government Health IT reports.
Tiger Team Recommendations
During a meeting last Friday, Tiger Team members said physicians should include the health information exchange notices in the HIPAA privacy and security materials that patients receive and sign during office visits.
Paul Egerman — a software entrepreneur and co-chair of the Tiger Team — said the information provided to patients should explain health data exchange practices in a manner that is “manageable for patients to read and understand.” He said the notices should be written so that 90% of patients can understand how their health data will be shared.
Egerman also said the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT could play a role in implementing the Tiger Team’s recommendations by requiring health information exchanges and regional extension centers to organize educational campaigns about health data sharing.
The Tiger Team’s recommendations reinforce proposals that the Health IT Policy Committee submitted to HHS in August.
