New rules mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act, enacted in 2016, will change the way patients can access their health records digitally. For now, Intermountain’s process for directing patients to their medical record remains the same—through MyHealth+ or by contacting our Health Information Management teams for release of information.
During the next two years, Intermountain—along with healthcare organizations across the nation—will coordinate policy and technology to comply with the Cures Act’s Information Blocking Rule (IBR) to move increasingly toward digital access to health data. The IBR defines how patients access their data digitally and doesn’t override existing laws or safety policies protecting certain data types.
Intermountain has broadly supported patient access through Open Notes in MyHealth+ since September 2017. By January 2023, the full complement of clinician notes available through medical records will be accessible through MyHealth+.
The compliance period for the IBR began last week, with full enforcement anticipated at the end of 2023. With this change, we can expect to see technological improvements and efficiencies in the electronic tools patients use to access their health data. Questions can be directed to Diego Ize-Ludlow, MD.