Zach Church writes in Midmarket CIO News:
As a growing number of patients take an increasingly proactive role in the management of their own health, sales of software programs that give users access to their personal health records are set to explode, experts say.
But the impending proliferation means new responsibilities for CIOs as hospitals experiment with the programs, which can let patients upload their health data from hospitals and doctors.
[…]
Mary Griskewicz, senior director for ambulatory information systems at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), said, “The CIO and the chief medical officers are going to have to prepare for a couple of things,” such as developing plans and policies on how EPHRs will relate to secure electronic medical records controlled by doctors following Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations.
EPHRs are not currently classified as HIPAA-regulated documents because they’re maintained by individuals and aren’t even necessarily viewed as true information in the eyes of some physicians, Griskewicz said.
[…]
Full story – TechTarget