Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Epic cracks down on startup, Hospital group calls HHS' web tracking rules unlawful + more

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Epic cracks down on startup, Hospital group calls HHS' web tracking rules unlawful + more · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  - This is Naomi Diaz
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  with the Becker's Digital Health Podcast.
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  Here's your daily industry news briefing
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  for today, April 15th.
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  First, the American Hospital Association is challenging HH
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  S'S bulletin regarding online tracking technologies
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  for HIPAA covered entities, calling it substantively
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  and procedurally unlawful.
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  According to the a HA,
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  the HHS bulletin restricts healthcare organizations from
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  using third party web tracking technologies on their
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  websites that may capture IP addresses
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  of individuals that visit them.
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  The a HA wrote in federal court hearing quote, recognizing
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  that its original bulletin was legally indefensible.
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  HHS responded to the suit
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  by issuing a revised bulletin just stays
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  before its brief was due,
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  but the agency's inconsequential modifications only
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  confirmed that both agency actions were substantially
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  and procedurally unlawful.
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  Just like the original bulletin,
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  the revised bulletin will prevent healthcare providers from
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  communicating vital health information
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  to the communities they serve.
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  On March 19th, HHS updated its stance on online tracking
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  tools amid several hospitals, health systems
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  and insurers facing lawsuits for using them.
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  According to the bulletin, HHS stated
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  that regulated organizations may not use tracking
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  technologies in a way that would lead
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  to sharing private health information
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  with tracking technology providers or breaking HIPAA rules.
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  HHS said organizations can work with a technology vendor
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  that provides tracking technology,
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  but they cannot disclose protected health information
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  to track tracking technology vendors
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  for marketing purposes without their consumer's consent.
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  The a HA wrote in response to this quote,
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  the court should put an end to this embarrassing saga of re
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  regulatory overreach
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  and bar enforcement of ha's S'S unlawful
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  and unwise new rule, the A HA,
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  the Texas Hospital Association, Texas Health Resources
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  and United Regional Healthcare System, sue the HHS in 2023
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  and a bid to get the organization
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  to bar enforcement of the bulletin.
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  17 state hospital associations and 30 hospitals
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  and health systems have submitted friend
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  of the court briefs in support of the a HA in the lawsuit.
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  Second, EHR vendor Epic Systems sold customers,
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  and a notice that it is cutting off data access
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  to a startup called Particle Health, alleging
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  that the company has been misusing patient data.
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  CNBC reported April 12th
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  and a notice sent to customers April 11th.
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  Epic said that particle was using patient data in an
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  unauthorized and unethical manner,
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  un unrelated to medical treatment.
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  According to the article, this move impedes particles access
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  to its systems which contain more than
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  300 million patient records.
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  Particle serves as a middleman facilitating data access
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  between EPIC and organizations like hospitals and clinics.
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  CNBC reported that patient data protected
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  by HIPAA requires consent for third party access.
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  Epics EHR can be accessed through care quality,
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  facilitating more than 400,000 document exchanges monthly.
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  To become a care quality member, particle had to undergo
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  - Vetting and agree to specific data exchange purposes.
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  Epic limits data access to requests for treatment purposes.
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  According to the article, the EHR vendor raised concerns
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  about particles, data retrieval accuracy,
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  and suspended its connection on March 21st,
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  citing potential HIPAA violations in an April 12th
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  blog Post Care Equality said it takes disputes very
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  seriously and is committed to maintaining the integrity
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  of the dispute resolution process as well
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  as trusted exchange within the framework.
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  Meanwhile, particle said in an April 12th blog post
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  that it began addressing this issue immediately
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  after Epic stop responding to data requests from a subset
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  of customers are March 21st.
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  Particle also said in an April 15th news release
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  that Epic had implied it completely disconnected from
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  particle health and its customers from Epic's data.
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  But that sentiment is not true
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  and that same news release particle health said quote,
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  in fact, the vast majority
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  of particle health customers have continued
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  to aary received data from Epic without interruption
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  for use in their important work supporting providers
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  in the treatment of patients.
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  Beginning March 21st, epic indiscriminately stop responding
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  to queries from some particle health customers.
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  While there is an ongoing dispute between Epic
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  and Particle health related to three specific customers,
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  the significant majority
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  of particle health customers impacted
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  by Epic's actions were not in any way
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  related to this dispute.
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  Epic did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.
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  Third, a majority
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  of healthcare organizations have embraced Apple's iPhone
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  and iPad as their go-to shared use Smart Devices.
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  An April 10th report from class frowned
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  Kloss interviewed employees at ad healthcare organizations
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  to assess which smart device vendors they used, along
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  with the vendor's ability to fulfill healthcare demands.
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  The report found that although Apple's devices are not built
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  for healthcare specifically,
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  apple was respondent's preferred
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  choice for three main reasons.
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  The first was Apple's product had seamless compatibility
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  with mobile device management solutions.
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  The second was employees were already using Apple products
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  in their personal lives, and the third was
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  that numerous IT vendors ensure compatibility
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  with Apple's operating systems ahead of others.
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  Additionally, the report found that the iPhone was preferred
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  among most clinicians,
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  and that her healthcare organizations using Apple's Smart
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  product devices were highly satisfied due
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  to the product's quality, connectivity, and easy to use iOS.
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• 5:14
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• 5:19
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