HHS-OIG announced their final decision on information blocking penalties. Any individual or entity that has committed information blocking will be subject up to a $1 million dollar penalty per violation.

So what is information blocking? Per the HealthIt.gov website, information blocking is a practice by an "actor" that is likely to interfere with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI), except as required by law or specified in an information blocking exception. You can read more details on Healthit.gov.

Criterions’ new FHIR standard APIs can ensure your practice provides adequate access to patient health records. Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, or FHIR, is an interoperability rule that enables on-demand information exchange of clinical records among providers and data systems. FHIR was created by the Health Level Seven International healthcare standards organization (HL7) specifically for healthcare organizations.

FHIR builds on previous data format standards like HL7, but it is easier to implement because it uses a modern web-based suite of API technology. FHIR makes it easy to provide healthcare information to healthcare providers and individuals on a wide variety of devices including computers, tablets, and cell phones. It also allows third-party application developers to provide medical applications which can be easily integrated into existing systems.

Reach out to FHIR@criterions.com for more information and what actions you can take today.

Industry Standard for Exchanging Patient Information

Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture (CCDA), is a standard format for exchanging clinical patient information between healthcare providers and organizations electronically. The CCDA standard was developed by Health Level Seven International (HL7) and contains patient health information such as demographics, medical history, medication lists, allergies, laboratory results, vital signs, and care plan information. It is designed to improve the continuity of patient care by easily accessing and sharing patient information across different electronic health record (EHR) systems.

Benefits of CCDA Include:

Improved Patient Care: The CCDA facilitates the exchange of patient health information between healthcare providers, enabling them to have a more complete and accurate view of a patient's medical history, medications, allergies, and other health-related information. This can help improve patient safety, reduce medical errors, and support better clinical decision-making.

Interoperability: The CCDA is a widely adopted standard for exchanging clinical information, which means that EHR systems that support the CCDA can communicate with other systems that also support the standard. This facilitates data sharing and interoperability between healthcare providers, organizations, and systems, enabling more coordinated and efficient care.

Enhanced Patient Engagement: The CCDA standard also enables patients to access and share their health information with other healthcare providers or caregivers. Patients can access their CCDA files through patient portals or other online platforms, empowering them to take a more active role in managing their own health and improving their health outcomes. 

Reduced Administrative Burden: The CCDA standard can help reduce administrative burdens by streamlining data exchange between different healthcare organizations, systems, and providers. This can lead to reduced paperwork, improved data accuracy, and more efficient workflows, enabling providers to focus more on patient care.

Overall, the CCDA standard can help improve the quality of care, enhance patient engagement, support interoperability, and streamline administrative processes, making it an important tool for EHR systems in healthcare organizations.

Contact Criterions Support or fill out the form below for information on how you can send CCDA files to other providers using Direct Messaging or to patients via the portal!

Multi-Factor Authentication is a process that is used to verify a user’s identity by using a second method of authentication in addition to the username and password. After a user logs in using their regular credentials, the system will send a one-time password to the user’s registered device, often via SMS or email. Experts agree that the simplest, single most effective step users can take to protect their accounts is to add MFA to the login process. When your office enables MFA, a crucial layer of security and protection is added.

Aren’t passwords secure enough?

Creating strong, unique passwords is a one step towards ensuring that nobody else can access your secure account. Unfortunately, users often create weak passwords and re-use the same passwords across multiple accounts. Because of this, password theft continues to be an ever-increasing concern in the digital world. Take a look at the following alarming statistics compiled by Panda Security:

• According to Verizon, 80% of hacking-related breaches are linked to passwords.
• 4 out of 10 Americans have had their personal data compromised online. Of those, 47% have lost money as a result.
• 66% of Americans use the same password across multiple online accounts.
• The healthcare industry had the highest average cost of a data breach in 2020 at $7.13 million.

Do any of your employees connect remotely?

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has seen a sharp increase in employees working remotely. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers global survey published in September 2020, over half of the companies that were surveyed had arrangements for employees to work remotely with 80% of those companies expecting this arrangement to become the norm by the end of the pandemic. With the increased number of people connecting remotely, authenticating the credentials of all users is more critical than ever. Using MFA at your office will ensure safety of your company’s important information.

Do I really need to enable MFA on my system?

In a 2019 blog post, Microsoft manager Alex Weinert stated, “Based on our studies, your account is more than 99.9% less likely to be compromised if you use MFA.” According to Google’s Security Blog, adding a two-step verification through SMS text message can stop 100% of automated bots, 96% of bulk phishing attacks, and 66% of targeted attacks.

This additional, easy step ensures that the user logging in is the correct, authenticated user. Even if a user’s credentials are hacked, this extra verification process will ensure that the hackers will still not be able to gain access to their system. Best of all, this additional layer of security only takes a few seconds to implement. Instead of having to buy external additional devices or complicated security systems, MFA technology makes use of resources that users already have access to such as their cell phones and email addresses.

We strongly encourage all Criterions users to protect their accounts with Multi Factor Authentication. Please contact support@criterions.com with any questions or complete the form below.