The App Association which reflects app makers and related industries, for more than a year has worked with policymakers to get guidance on sufferer access rights to their health data under the HIPAA law. Now that the guidance is out, the team generally likes what it observes.
The department of Health and Human Services constructed a web portal previously where anyone could inquire about HIPAA, but it was not an effective resource because it was not checked and monitored very well, states Morgan Reed, executive director at the App Association.
The new guidance not merely educates HIPAA covered entities as sufferers increasingly inquire for their medical records but also agencies that sell supportive technologies yet are not covered entities.
That is significant because up until now, app makers have not been capable to adequately elaborate how functions within their products are acceptable under HIPAA, because pertinent sections of HIPAA have not been updated since the year 2006, when apps as we know them today did not exist, Reed states.
Still missing, although, is extra guidance that app companies expect comes sooner rather than later on how mobile apps should manage information. Technology is moving quickly and sufferers are using it, but the government has to keep pace with the changes, Reed further adds. “There are fabulous pilot projects out there that never scale because of uncertainty over regulation.”
That has to change in an atmosphere when the average individual is never more than 3 feet from a mobile device, and the devices get better every year and can assist an elderly family member stay at home instead of moving to an assisted living center, securing families huge amounts of money, Reed claims.
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