March 2, 2021
21st Century Cures Act Final Implementation Begins April 5th
New Guidelines for Electronic Health Information Exchange
April 5, 2021 is our final implementation deadline to ensure compliance with the electronic health Information (EHI) exchange guidelines as part of the federal 21st Century Cures Act. These new guidelines require health care organizations across the country to ensure EHI is immediately available and released to patients through their MyChart account or upon request. In addition, patients’ physicians, advanced practice providers (APPs), care teams and other authorized requestors, as designated per the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines, also will have increased access to EHI to support the care they deliver to their patients.
As a reminder, since November, CentraCare has developed a phased roll-out of these new directives across our system to meet the implementation deadline while also providing time to support necessary operational changes. On April, 5, 2021, the final phase of the roll-out will be completed with results electronically released to patients via their MyChart accounts.
To review the EHI release timeline, see the chart below:
| Category | Prior to November 2020 | November 1, 2020 | March 1, 2021 | April 5, 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal labs | 2 Hour Delay | Instant Release | ||
| Abnormal Lab, Mammography, Ultrasound, X-Ray | 1 Day Delay | Instant Release | ||
| MRI, CT, Pathology, Microbiology, Nuclear Medicine — all other results | 4 Day Delay | Instant Release | ||
| Allergy, RAST Testing | 21 Day Delay | Instant Release | ||
| Signed Progress Note, DS, H&P, Consult, Etc | Instante Release | Instant Release | ||
| Procedute Note | Able to Release | Instant Release | ||
| All Other Note Types | Able to Release | Instante Release | ||
| Notes Restricted due to Federal or State Requirements | Able to Release | Able to Release |
Learn more about how these new guidelines change the way we deliver EHI to support the patients we serve and find helpful resources to support clinical practice such as scripting and FAQs.