HHS finalizes interoperability rule for seamless and secure access, exchange, and use of electronic health information

The new rule from HHS is designed to give patients and their healthcare providers secure access to health information, by establishing a new Condition of Participation (CoP) for all Medicare and Medicaid participating hospitals to use electronic notifications to healthcare facilities, community providers, or practitioners when a patient is admitted, discharged, or transferred. It also calls on the healthcare industry to adopt standardized application programming interfaces (APIs), which will help individuals to securely and easily access structured electronic health information.