• Review the Resources on healthcare policy and regulatory/legislative topics related to health and nursing informatics.
• Consider the role of the nurse informaticist in relation to a healthcare organization’s compliance with various policies and regulations, such as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
• Research and select one health or nursing informatics policy (within the past 5 years) or regulation for further study.
The Assignment: (1 page not including the title and reference page)
Create a 1-page fact sheet that your healthcare organization could hypothetically use to explain the health or nursing informatics policy/regulation you selected. Your fact sheet should address the following:
• Briefly and generally explain the policy or regulation you selected.
• Address the impact of the policy or regulation you selected on system implementation.
• Address the impact of the policy or regulation you selected on clinical care, patient/provider interactions, and workflow.
• Highlight organizational policies and procedures that are/will be in place at your healthcare organization to address the policy or regulation you selected. Be specific.
• Use APA format and include a title page, in-text citations, and reference page.
• Use the Turnitin Drafts to check your match percentage before submitting your work.
Impact on System Implementation
The Cures Act has had a profound impact on the development and implementation of health information technology. Healthcare organizations and health IT developers are now mandated to ensure that their systems can easily and securely exchange EHI. This has accelerated the adoption of standardized application programming interfaces (APIs), most notably those based on the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard. Systems must now be certified to meet these interoperability requirements, ensuring that patient data, including clinical notes and lab results, can be shared across different platforms and organizations without special effort. This regulatory push has forced health IT developers to move away from proprietary, "walled-garden" systems and toward more open architectures. Ultimately, this leads to a more integrated and efficient healthcare ecosystem where a patient's full health history is accessible to all authorized providers, regardless of the EHR system they use.
Impact on Clinical Care and Patient/Provider Interactions
The policy has fundamentally reshaped clinical care and patient-provider interactions by promoting transparency and patient engagement. Under the Cures Act, patients have a right to immediate, no-cost access to their full EHI, including clinical notes (e.g., "Open Notes"). This changes the dynamic of patient-provider interactions, as patients are now more informed and can actively participate in their care decisions. Clinicians must be prepared to have open conversations about their documentation and test results, fostering a more collaborative relationship. The new workflow is centered on making EHI readily available through patient portals or other electronic means. For example, a patient can now access a lab result as soon as it is finalized, rather than waiting for a provider to review it first. This rapid information flow requires clinicians to be mindful of how their notes are written and to be ready to discuss results proactively with patients.
Organizational Policies and Procedures at Our Healthcare Organization
To ensure full compliance with the Cures Act and the information blocking rule, our healthcare organization has implemented several key policies and procedures:
Patient Access Policy: We have a clear policy that grants patients and their designees electronic access to all their EHI, including clinical notes, test results, and discharge summaries, through our secure patient portal. Access is granted immediately upon documentation completion, and this service is provided free of charge.
Sample Answer
Fact Sheet: The 21st Century Cures Act and Information Blocking
Overview of the Policy/Regulation
The 21st Century Cures Act, enacted in 2016, is a landmark federal law designed to accelerate medical product development and bring new innovations to patients faster and more efficiently. A key component of this act is its focus on improving interoperability and patient access to electronic health information (EHI) by preventing information blocking. The rule, which went into effect in 2021, defines information blocking as an "unreasonable practice that is likely to interfere with, prevent, or materially discourage access, exchange, or use of electronic health information" (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology [ONC], 2020). The regulation aims to empower patients with their health data, foster competition among health IT developers, and enable seamless data exchange among providers, which is essential for coordinated care. The rule applies to healthcare providers, health IT developers, and health information exchanges (HIEs).