Our guest, David Szabo, Co-Chair of the Health Care practice, a Partner in the Corporate and Transactional Department, and a member of the Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice Group with Locke Lord, LLP joins our regular panel of senior health IT consultants, Ken Kleinberg, Jocelyn Keegan and Gary Austin to dish on Health IT and the Law. During Part 1 of this 2-part series, the discussion covers: - compliance with CMS/ONC rules and consequences of non-compliance, - Information blocking: what is it? what happens if you do it? What are the implications for patients consenting to share data with 3rd party apps outside of HIPAA - telehealth: relaxed regulations and waivers, mandated reimbursement rates, loosening practice borders, vendor preferences, increased usage, potential for fraud Look forward to Part 2 which covers price transparency and pick up the conversation around data privacy issues that may arise due to information blocking regulations
Gary Austin kicked off the podcast by introducing Ken and Jocelyn who provided their opening comments on the ONC and CMS rules, information blocking and telehealth. Gary then introduced David Szabo before kicking off the discussion around the CMS & ONC Rules where they discussed how much enforcement teeth these rules carry and the opportunities for innovation for forward thinking organizations.
The discussion then moved to information blocking where the group discussed why it may matter if an organization inadvertently blocks information because they don't understand the regulations versus organizations which may blatantly block information. There are implications not only for health IT companies but for payer and provider organizations. The group then moved to discuss the implications for patients when they consent to their clinical information to be shared with a 3rd party app outside of the protection of HIPAA. This is especially important because most consumers don't read the 10 page agreements they need to "consent to" before using an app.
The group then tackled the explosion of use of telehealth which may have been an operational challenge for some providers. In the midst of COVID-19 there are waivers, relaxation of the site of practice and mandated reimbursements levels which may change once the pandemic wanes. With claims going up by as much as 1000% in some areas, there is also a huge risk for fraud.
Look forward to Part 2 which covers price transparency and pick up the conversation around data privacy issues that may arise due to information blocking regulations and the priorities organizations should put on complying with new rules and regulations and developing interoperability roadmaps and agreements.