NURS 6051 POLICY/REGULATION FACT SHEET 21st Century Cures Act: Overview

NURS 6051 POLICY/REGULATION FACT SHEET

21st Century Cures Act: Overview

The policy, implemented by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) improves flow and exchange of electronic health information. The act prevents information blocking and enhances usability, accessibility, privacy and security of patient health information. The act also defines interoperability and clarifies HIPAA privacy rules (HealthIT.Gov, 2024).

Impact on System Implementation

• Cures Act promotes privacy and interoperability at system level to enhance and safeguard systems. The act prevents data breaches that can lead to monetary costs affecting the organization and its partners, patients, and providers accessing its data.
• Enhances accurate and consistent data for better decision making by providers and care continuity (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022).
• The act allows providers to share and exchange information for better care provision through customizing patient interventions to meet their needs.

Impact on Clinical Care, Patient Interactions and Workflow

• Improves clinical care through sharing of information among providers and patients
• Enhances accessibility to information for patients who can understand their diagnoses and proposed interventions by the healthcare providers (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022)
• The act improves workflow because of increased interoperability among providers and patients as they exchange critical data to aid in developing customized care plans to meet patient demands (Gov, 2024).
• The act also prohibits information blocking which implies that healthcare organizations cannot prevent stakeholders from accessing right information (Everson et al., 2021).
• The act also promotes usability of electronic health information to enhance health among patients

Impact on Organizational Policies and Procedures

• Requires the organization to develop policies to comply like on information blocking
• Organization to comply with HIPAA regulations as the act strengthens aspects of the policy (Gov, 2024)
• Organization policy on privacy and data security to align with the 21st Century Cures provisions

References

Everson, J., Patel, V., & Adler-Milstein, J. (2021). Information blocking remains prevalent at the

start of 21st Century Cures Act: results from a survey of health information exchange organizations. Journal of the American medical informatics association, 28(4), 727-732. DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocaa323.

HealthIT.Gov (2024). Health IT Legislation: 21st Century Cures Act.