by David Harlow | Feb 27, 2016
The recent Precision Medicine Initiative Summit at the White House saw dozens of private entities committing to join with the administration in supercharging the effort to enroll one million patients into precision medicine research programs, collecting and securely...
by David Harlow | Jan 12, 2016
A long time ago (in internet years), the original HIPAA regulations were promulgated. (The final Privacy Rule was published in 2000.) They’ve been tweaked and updated over the years, most notably in the “mega-reg” promulgated a few years back in...
by David Harlow | Jun 27, 2015
I recently hosted a Google Hangout on Air entitled Patient Reviews of Physicians: The Wisdom of the Crowd? (presented by The Harlow Group LLC in association with The Society for Participatory Medicine). I spoke with Niam Yaraghi (Center for Technology Innovation, The...
by David Harlow | Jun 20, 2015
Patient Reviews of Physicians: The Wisdom of the Crowd? Google Hangout On Air Hosted by David Harlow with Niam Yaraghi and Casey Quinlan Wed, Jun 24, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET Presented by David Harlow (aka HealthBlawg) in association with The Society for...
by David Harlow | May 20, 2015
There are two sets of Meaningful Use draft regulations out for comment at present: (1) Proposed revisions to Meaningful Use Stage 2 (“MU2”), with comments due June 15 and (2) Proposed Meaningful Use Stage 3 (“MU3”) regulations, to be effective in 2017 at the earliest....
by David Harlow | Jun 23, 2014
Charlotte Yeh is the Chief Medical Officer of AARP Services, and has had a long career in government and as a practicing emergency physician. (Our paths first crossed years ago when we were both working on pre-hospital care reform in Massachusetts.) She wrote a piece...
by David Harlow | May 1, 2014
The Heartbleed web security exploit was first publicized several weeks ago. In the time since then, numerous web-based services have let their users know (some more clearly than others) whether and how their data security was compromised by this OpenSSL flaw that has...
by David Harlow | Feb 4, 2014
The lab test result data access rule is finally final. See the HHS press release and the final rule, which is scheduled to be published on Thursday. What does this mean? In a nutshell, patients in all 50 states are now guaranteed the right to access the results of...
by David Harlow | Oct 14, 2013
Meaningful Use Stage 2 includes the requirement that health care providers with EHRs seeking Meaningful Use incentive dollars demonstrate that 5% of patients actually view, download or transmit their data. The HIPAA/HITECH Omnibus Rule, which is now fully in effect...
by David Harlow | Sep 23, 2013
[Note added by e-Patient Dave: this is such a big deal that I’m taking the rude step of adding highlights [bold] to Attorney Harlow’s post!] We’re inching closer to promulgation of final regulations that will likely make all lab test results more...
by David Harlow | Aug 28, 2013
There’s a new index in town. This week’s entrant is the EveryMove 100, a ranking of health plans across the US “based on how they engage with and empower consumers to manage their own health.” according to the presser. (EveryMove is a health...
by David Harlow | Jun 5, 2013
ONC is sponsoring the Blue Button Plus Challenge — putting up some prize money to incentivize teams of developers to come up with solutions to the problem of getting patient data to patients. The first phase of the challenge is crowdsourcing ideas from patients...
by David Harlow | May 20, 2013
Going public recently with her story of a prophylactic double mastectomy after testing positive for BRCA1 (a gene linked to breast cancer) via an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Angelina Jolie is clearly trying to get the message out that radical choices must...
by David Harlow | May 12, 2013
The FDA launched an impressive patient network website this month, after nearly four years of research, focus groups, usability testing and more. The twin goals for this website are promoting the educational mission of the FDA, and promoting opportunities for patient...
by David Harlow | May 8, 2013
The new darling of the online educational community is Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The example which figures most prominently in the popular imagination is the Khan Academy, though its founder says otherwise, noting that MOOCs are merely online...
by David Harlow | Apr 24, 2013
With the tireless help of Adrian Gropper, and the counsel of executive committee members Michael Millenson and Danny Sands who went above and beyond, and our President Sarah Krüg, the Society for Participatory Medicine’s Public Policy Committee completed a...
by David Harlow | Feb 1, 2013
After years of delay, the federales finally finalized the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Breach Notification and Enforcement Rules. Introduction The Final Rule offers significant changes to patient rights and patient protections. (There is much more to the rule, but other...
by David Harlow | Jan 14, 2013
The Health IT Policy Committee of the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT released its proposed Stage 3 objectives for Meaningful Use. “Eligible Providers” that meet these objectives share in the federal electronic health record incentive...
by David Harlow | Dec 17, 2012
A recent Press Ganey white paper highlights an association between HCAHPS performance — patient experience scores — and lower rates of readmission. (Performance Insights – The Relationship Between HCAHPS Performance and Readmission Penalties.) With...
by David Harlow | Nov 30, 2012
The latest news story to examine the issue of patient access to implantable cardiac defibrillator data (a variation on the theme of “gimme my damn data”) is an in-depth, Page One Wall Street Journal story featuring Society for Participatory Medicine...
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