Changing Policies Changes Practices: Patient Access and Input to Their Health Record

One of the promises of health information technology is to provide patients easier access to their health information.

This is a focus of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s consumer e-health efforts and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ meaningful use regulations. But this isn’t a new policy for the Department of Health and Human Services. In fact, we have ensured that patients have had a right to access their health information since 2002. The policy regarding patients and their medical records has been shifting over the years. To help folks understand the evolving policy developments and to understand some of the open discussions, ONC has posted a policy issue brief that focuses on patient access to their health information.