A Case Study of the Family Health Center of Worcester’s Ransomware Incident, February 2024
The use of ransomware — malicious software that restricts access to computer systems with financial demands — has escalated, targeting health centers and putting countless lives at risk. This dire reality came to the forefront during the alarming ransomware attack on the Family Health Center of Worcester, Inc. (FHCW), where the personal health information and care continuity for thousands of patients were compromised. This resource uses FHCW's experience as a case study to demonstrate the...
ONC Data Brief | October 2023
Patient use of their health information accessible to them through online tools (e.g., patient portals and smartphone apps) can help empower them to make informed decisions about their health and track progress on health-related goals, potentially resulting in improved patient outcomes (1). Enabling patients to access and use the information contained in online medical records and patient portals may also provide significant health system benefits, including decreased healthcare costs and...
Considerations for Entities that Maintain Part 2-Protected Data
CoE-PHI resource that describes the Information Blocking Rule and explains that it does not preempt stricter privacy laws and regulations such as 42 CFR Part 2. Key Points: Information blocking includes practices that would “interfere with, prevent, or materially discourage the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information.” Following a legal requirement to obtain patient consent for a disclosure meets the “privacy exception” in the Information Blocking...
HITEQ Center and Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP, September 2023
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) 21st Century Cures Act Information Blocking Rule (Info Blocking Rule) prohibits covered actors – including health care providers, health IT developers of certified health IT, and health information exchanges/health information networks– from engaging in practices likely to interfere with, prevent, or materially discourage access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI). The Info...
HITEQ Center, September 2023
This resource provides guidance to health centers for implementing FHIR in compliance with the Information Blocking Rule.