OCR head: Help patients understand their rights

Patients’ rights to access their health information have recently been strengthened, according to the new director of the Office for Civil Rights, who spoke at the fourth annual Consumer Health IT Summit on Sept. 15 in Washington, D.C.

Patients and their personal representatives will soon have greater rights to get their lab results directly from the labs rather than through their providers, said Jocelyn Samuels, JD. The changes were issued in February and labs have until Oct. 6 to comply.

“We’re counting on you to get the word out about their rights,” Samuels told her audience. “Access to information can enable patients to track their progress, monitor their lab results and communicate with treatment teams. Patients can only do this if they know that they have the right. You are critical partners to ensure patient education and empowerment.”

OCR offers providers its help with tools on its website geared to both consumers and providers. A series of videos on OCR’s Youtube channel explaining patient rights and entities’ obligations have been viewed almost 2 million times. “That’s a lot but it’s not enough.”

The organization also has launched a model Notice of Privacy Practices. “We want to reach out to providers to make sure they understand how to comply,” said Samuels.

She said OCR wants to encourage voluntary compliance and ensure that providers and others understand their responsibilities but “when faced with noncompliance we will take enforcement action.”

OCR has received lots of complaints, with about one-third attributed to the lack of patient access. “Clearly, it’s a right consumers pay a lot of attention to and are worried about protecting.” A significant number of complaints are about alleged noncompliance. “We investigate those complaints and work with providers to see if we can voluntarily remedy the situation. But, we do take enforcement action as necessary.

She cited settlement agreements with several organizations which are available on OCR’s website because “we offer important educational tools on situations that continue to occur 10 years after HIPAA. We urge people to be alert to all of the requirements of the rule to avoid these kinds of breaches and problems that can result in real harm to patients and sanctions to the providers who have engaged in the conduct.”