By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    health benefits of taking a vacation to reduce stress
    Relaxing European Destinations to Reduce Stress Risks to Health
    October 11, 2021
    pain management tips
    Managing Pain Differently: Alternative Pain Management Techniques
    January 12, 2022
    5 Ways to Promote Wellness in Your Home
    April 12, 2022
    Latest News
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
    Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
    July 20, 2025
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Cognitive Risk Declines with Activity
    June 22, 2011
    Scientific Advances on Contraceptive for Men
    July 25, 2011
    Alzheimer’s Preventable with Lifestyle Changes
    August 30, 2011
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: EHRs And The Law: When Interoperability Isn’t a Choice
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Health Reform > EHRs And The Law: When Interoperability Isn’t a Choice
Health ReformMedical EthicsMedical RecordsPolicy & Law

EHRs And The Law: When Interoperability Isn’t a Choice

Chad Johnson
Chad Johnson
Share
7 Min Read
SHARE

Originally published on HL7Standards.com.

Originally published on HL7Standards.com.

First off, I’m no legal expert, but recently I had an interesting conversation with the director of HIT at Texas Medical Association, which represents more than 47,000 physicians in the state. I scheduled the call because we wanted to learn more about (and hopefully help them with) the hurdles smaller, clinic-based physicians are encountering when trying to switch EHR vendors, be it to meet Meaningful Use Stage 2 data exchange requirements or to simply move to a vendor that delivers a better product.

Aside from the typical implementation and “Go Live” process, these physicians are facing unplanned fees of another sort in the form of data conversion from the old EHR to the new EHR. One doctor was quoted $12,000 to migrate nine months’ of EHR data – a hefty price to pay for making a bad EHR choice nine months ago. That cost, combined with the price of the new EHR, is simply too expensive for primary care physicians who already invested in an over-hyped and poorly-developed EHR product. If not for Meaningful Use requirements, these costs would have me skeptical of the report in Black Book Rankings that claims 2013 may be the “year of the great EHR vendor switch.”

More Read

mcat preparation tips
Mental Care: Practical Preparation to Pass the MCAT Exams
The GOP Replacement Plan: Summarizing the Executive Summary
Video Player is Updated With New Videos!
Debt Ceiling Deal Rattles Healthcare Delivery Prospects, Social Security and Medicaid Spared
Delivering Collaborative Breast Cancer Care in the Oncology Medical Home

EHR databases contain much more information than what can be contained in a CCD or Consolidated CDA document, they contain everything such as patient notes, email exchanges, dictation audio files, images, etc., so using an HL7 interface feed wouldn’t suffice to transmit or migrate this amount of data.

Why doesn’t the physician simply point the new EHR implementation team to the server where all the data is stored? Aside from the data mapping complexity of moving data from one database to another, there is the problem of actually getting ones’ hands on the data. In most of these cases, the EHR vendors are more affordable cloud/SaaS hosted solutions. So, the data is wherever the vendor put it.

But, there’s more.

(Note: This is not intended to be an indictment of hosted EHRs. Many operate with an honest, customer-centered approach.)

The “other” issue that came up during the call added an unexpected twist: the law. According to state law, which I’m told can vary between states, most physicians must keep or have access to patient data for seven years after their last encounter with the patient. Requirements for pediatricians are even stricter — they must keep patient data until the patient turns 21.

What happens when a physician quits paying their monthly EHR subscription fees and are locked out of the system? Through these laws, is the government forcing these physicians to either continue paying shoddy EHR vendors and/or pay exorbitant data migration fees? What if the cloud-based EHR vendor goes out of business?

Like I said above, I’m no legal expert so I asked health care attorney David Harlow about this issue. In addition to his legal work, David writes for and manages HealthBlawg, which I read regularly and highly recommend. This is his response:

“If a physician practice is ‘locked out’ of an EHR system, it doesn’t have HIPAA problems, it has bigger problems: inability to provide or coordinate care, inability to deal with audit requests from payors (which might lead to recoupment of payments), inability to defend malpractice suits, etc.

“Therefore, it is critical to negotiate the initial contract with an EHR provider with all of these nightmare scenarios in mind: the agreement should specify the cost of exporting data to a new system if the practice elects to move on; there should be a pre-negotiated transition services and payment section; there should be some external backups that the practice has access to, just in case; etc. We can’t predict the future, but we can be careful about ensuring that when we are surprised by something in the future, there is a mechanism in place for dealing with it. We lawyers are professional worriers — so that’s why there is value to having such an agreement reviewed and negotiated by a lawyer.”

In other words, hire an expert and read the fine print prior to signing an agreement. But many physicians do not take the necessary precautionary steps, which leaves them with few options than spending more money or staying put.

This calls into question the issue of data ownership. Does it belong to the patient? To the physician? From the perspective of these Texas physicians, it apparently belongs to the EHR vendor. But to most readers of this blog, the data really belongs to the patient. It is their body, after all, that produced the data and patients do pay for the medical services in one way or another.

So, assuming the data belongs to the patient, what access will we have to our records if they are locked in a cloud-based system our caregiver can no longer access? According to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, patients have the right to access their protected PHI. Caregivers, rightfully so, must provide the data to their patients, but current conditions may prevent them from following the law.

It is time for EHR vendors to change their tactics by opening access to the hosted databases, let go of the data migration revenue stream and begin backing up their highly skilled sales representatives’ claims of improving patient care.

Kudos to the Texas Medical Association, and others like them, for acting on the physicians’ behalf to try and find a solution to this problem.

TAGGED:EHRsHealth IT
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

non-clinical spaces
Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
Health Infographics
August 13, 2025
senior care at home
Breaking The Chain Of Infection For Seniors At Home
Infographics Senior Care
August 13, 2025
medical devices
The Lifecycle Of A Medical Device: From Concept To Disposal
Infographics Technology
August 13, 2025
Why Delaying Care For Minor Injuries Can Lead To Bigger Problems
Infographics Wellness
August 13, 2025

You Might also Like

Global HealthcarePublic Health

Diabetes 11.11.11- Request for Images, Videos

November 3, 2011

Ohio University Receives Record Gift of $105 Million To Train More Primary Care Doctors

May 3, 2011

Continuing Physician Education: A Key Lynchpin in Quality Care

August 28, 2012

Can You Afford Readmission Penalties in 2015?

October 18, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?