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Declining trust in health care stems partly from inherent contradictions at the heart of the US medical system. There are no easy solutions and progress will require difficult choices and sustained effort. But it starts with recognizing that despite technological, economic, and political changes, trust in health care fundamentally begins where it always has: with healing relationships between patients and physicians.

Dropping the requirement for healthcare entities to obtain and retain for six years patients’ signed acknowledgements of notices of privacy practices;Reducing the time from 30 days to 15 days for covered entities to fulfill patient requests for receiving copies of their health information;Allowing more flexibility to healthcare providers in making decisions to share patient information - such as about opioid abuse or COVID-19 treatment - with family members in situations involving “serious and foreseeable” threats, rather than the current “serious and imminent” threat standard.

Epic Systems has announced it facilitated over 221 million patient data exchanges through its Care Everywhere platform in October, a roughly 40 percent increase from the same time last year.As the country is currently in the midst of what some experts call the second wave of COVID-19, patient data exchange continues to be vital in healthcare. This is a record number of exchanges for the EHR vendor, Epic said, and that level of performance will be necessary as the industry stares down a likely influx of COVID-19 cases.

It’s not just caregivers and clinicians who have had to master the new modality for delivering care; healthcare consumers and their extended network of family and friends now have to adapt to telehealth as a new normal in accessing and receiving care.The most mature health systems recognize the importance of context and design their telehealth programs accordingly. Telehealth looks different for millennials and retirees, rural and urban inner-city populations, and population groups with fundamentally different healthcare needs.Many of us have gotten used to the idea that telehealth is just a new way to meet the doctor, only now it is through a video visit. But telehealth is much more. It encompasses various services and multiple modalities for delivering services involving multiple technology platforms and interfaces.

The policy states that the AMA:Continue to advocate for the widespread adoption of telehealth services in the practice of medicine for physicians and physician-led teams after the pandemic;Advocate that the federal and state governments and agencies and the payer industry adopt clear and uniform laws, rules, regulations, and policies relating to telehealth services that provide equitable coverage that allows patients to access telehealth services wherever they are located (and) provide for the use of accessible devices and technologies, with appropriate privacy and security protections, for connecting physicians and patients;Advocate for equitable access to telehealth services, especially for at-risk and under-resourced patient populations and communities, including but not limited to supporting increased funding and planning for telehealth infrastructure such as broadband and internet-connected devices for both physician practices and patients; andSupport the use of telehealth to reduce health disparities and promote access to health care.

NEW TECHNOLOGY | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020Positioning patient portals for successRecent growth in use of patient portals has been spurred by increases in virtual visits due to COVID-19. But are the systems designed for patients and doctors, or for smoother administrative and billing functions?By Yael L. MaxwellThere’s no doubt patient portals can provide a wealth of information. From the patient’s point of view, portals can do a lot, said Tom Delbanco, MD, MACP, the John F. Keane & Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. They can tell you what your laboratory results were. They can show you what medications you’re on. They can help you ask for refills. Most of them will support secure emails between you and your providers, either directly with your doctors or to your practices. And increasingly, they let you review your clinicians’ notes, perhaps the most important part of your medical record.

Prepared by: Clinovations Government + Health for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

As weve covered before, this is a big shift for many healthcare organizations to immediately share health information with patients. Not only is this a lift technically, but its probably a bigger lift culturally for many healthcare organizations.