Healthcare leaders continue to express concerns about President Donald Trump’s administration’s changes to HHS. Just this week, 20 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit saying the department’s restructuring plan and the resulting layoffs were unconstitutional and dangerous to public safety practices.
Experts say the consequences of the HHS overhaul could reset public health efforts by removing critical infrastructure. It is also important to note that these changes have serious doubts about the future of interoperability, he noted Jason Prestinario, CEO of Data Platform Particle Health.
He said the merger of HHS institutions and the lack of clarity in HHS mandatory interoperability policies such as TEFCA and the Tefca Act have created serious uncertainty.
“We have nearly a year of OIG information to block OIG requests, and we hear nothing. With funds being cut, this has caused concern, of course, in our minds, around the future state of information blockade. Without the real punishment of information blocking, Tefca’s commitment and information sharing wouldn’t usually come true,” Prestinario announced.
Particles filed a message blocking complaint with the HHS Office of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator (ONC) in July last year and transferred it to the Office of the Inspector General of HHS (OIG) later that year. The complaint says EHR giant Epic is blocking thousands of particle customers from the data.
Prestinario explains that the fact that the particle has not received communication or updates about its complaints suggests that the execution of interoperability may never be a priority for HHS and that it may become more deprived as budgets are cut.
Members also criticized the way HHS is free and fair in interoperability is implemented. Last July, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Lousiana) urged the Biden administration to explain its implementation and enforcement of regulations to prevent delays from blocking health information.
Prestinario noted that the lack of interoperability of HHS execution has real consequences for patient care.
He said that between March 21 and November 1 last year, Epic blocked more than 18,000 customers from accessing shared clinical data through particle networks.
“Those who were blocked – epic clients, their own providers, their own doctors – did not get clinical information from dozens of care organizations we support, including healthcare providers centered on mothers’ health, rural-based EHR and community oncology centers. Conclusion, 225,000 patients obtained their epic providers, who were unable to obtain medical records, and their medical records were all.
Prestinario stressed that delays and failures in data sharing can lead to patient harm. He noted that without full access to medical records, the nursing team made ignorant decisions and may lack important backgrounds such as past cancer treatments or laboratory results.
He provides an example of a breakdown of a personal healthcare data sharing system. Recently, Prestinario and his wife had to catch up with their newborn son to the emergency room at Nyu Langone Health as they noticed he had symptoms of jaundice.
During this visit, a nurse had to take pictures of Prestinario’s phone to show her son’s lab results instead of retrieving the data electronically.
Prestinario explained that the newborn’s jaundice symptoms were monitored throughout his pediatric care provider’s lifetime, but caregivers were not ready to access the data.
While Prestinario remains promising for the future of interoperability, he warned that new regulations such as Tefca and Tefca and The Cures Act would have no effect without active enforcement. He said that without punishment, the organization will be unable to comply.
In the statement sent to Medcity NewsAn Epic spokesman said the company supports continuous care for patients.
“It is the responsibility to protect patient privacy and act when necessary to prevent abuse of health data,” the spokesperson said. “For example, using interoperability networks such as Carequality to access patient data is inappropriate because treatment is provided when the data is truly shared with class action lawyers, as this does not support the continuity of care. Using clinical data in a way that is unfavorable for patient care can disrupt beneficiaries who are critical to interoperability.”
The spokesman said EPIC will continue to defend the allegations of particles while adhering to its commitment to patient privacy.
Photo: natali_mis, Getty Images
