Today: Texas AG to Investigate Epic's role in Denying Patients Access to Medical Records
Episode 24323rd November 2022 • This Week Health: Newsroom • This Week Health
00:00:00 00:07:45

Transcripts

Today in health, it, the Texas ag to investigate Epic's role in denying access to. Someone's medical record. We're going to take a look at that today. My name is bill Russell. I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of this week health. A set of channels dedicated to keeping health it staff current and engaged. We want to thank our show sponsors or investing in developing the next generation of health leaders.

Gordian dynamics, Quill health tau site nuance, Canon medical, and current health. Check them out at this week. health.com/today. All right. We will not be having shows on Thanksgiving day or the day after Thanksgiving. Otherwise known as black Friday. , we will be taking those two days off from this. You can go back and listen to some other shows or.

You can hang out with your family. Should be good time. , all right, so I'm taking a look at this story. I found it interesting. I also found it interesting. , post them and share with you as well. So the Texas ag to investigate Epic's role in denying patients access to medical records. , let's see, Texas ag is Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into epic systems over the policy that allegedly prevents parents from access accessing their children's medical records. Once they have become teenagers.

Mr. Paxson sent a civil investigative demand to the EHR vendor after he began an investigation. Into Houston based Memorial Hermann regarding an alleged policy that doesn't allow parents to access their children's medical records. If the child is between 13 and 17 years old, Mr. Paxson said his investigation into the health system, further reveal that epic.

May have additional information regarding these concerns. According to the November 17th, press release from the attorney general, Texas law forbids any hospital or corporate entity from denying parents access to their children's medical records. And we're going to ensure that the law is followed. Mr. PacSun wrote in his press release.

ansition to epic beginning in:

The health system said its implementation of epic will take multiple years. Okay. So that's the, that's the foundation of the story. Patrick watered. Who's been on the show, chief digital officer for Methodists. , the Bonner healthcare, , had this as a reply on LinkedIn. Because I thought it was really well-written. So I'm going to share it with you as physicians and providers, our fundamental responsibilities to our patients, not their families.

This is often hard for families to understand, especially when the patient is young, especially a teenager, or has a mild cognitive impairment or has. Different cultural beliefs. But our responsibility is always to protect a patient's privacy, unless that patient specifically wishes that we share the information with someone else.

I will be watching this investigation with deep concern. The Texas ag is way out of line here. And a decision to pursue this would undermine young, vulnerable patients rights. , It's interesting. This is an interesting article and the recent it's an interesting articles because my house was some actually was in the state of Texas and we had to adhere to some of the laws they're referring to here. And I'm really not sure what he's referring to here. When he says Texas law forbids any hospital or corporate entity from denying parents access to their children's medical records. And we're going to ensure that the law is followed the law. That's not the law.

Or at least if it is it's changed since I was CIO and I was covering. , west Texas in west Texas, the law is essentially. That, , that you have to protect the rights of a child when they become a teenager. And that information cannot be shared with their parents unless the patient.

Gives you the, the right to share it with their parents. So I I'm really. I'm at a loss for what's going on here. Most states have that kind of law in place. At least the states that I was associated with, , because I think that Patrick's right, and this is about. , protecting the patient and when the patient gets to be of age and can make their own decisions, I don't, and every state decides differently what that age is. And if I remember correctly, oddly enough, the state of Texas was younger than the state of California, which is the other place we practiced.

And so we had to do all sorts of things within our EHR. To understand that privacy concern and up until a certain point, we're sharing everything with the, with the parent because they are the garden again and there in most cases, , helping with the care of that patient. But then at a certain point,

The, the law changes and you have to flip that switch off. And then the patient, if the patient sits there and goes, yes, my parents can have access to the record. , then you can turn that back on. , this is just part of the web that we have to navigate multiple states, multiple laws. , and I think this is confusing and I'm not even sure why go after epic should really going, going after Memorial Hermann.

That's the entity that's within the state of Texas. And with all of these EHR. It's how you configure it. I don't think it is an epic incident instance issue per se, that that decides this. I think. That essentially in each state, when you do your bill, do you determine how you're going to handle.

, consent and privacy. So I it's really interesting case.

I agree with Patrick, I'm going to keep an eye on this one. I'm not sure where it's coming from. It could be politically motivated. I have no idea. But something doesn't add up here in terms of why this investigation is being launched, why it's going after epic. And why

he says it with such clarity. At Texas law forbids any hospital or corporate entity from denying parents access. To their children's medical records. You guys have to find the word children. Right. If there's a certain age at which we are not allowed to share that record because they become of age.

What is the word children at? What age does that stop? Because there is an age at which that stops. And we don't share that information. It could be 16, could be 18. It could be 21 could be 24, whatever the state actually requires. But think about it when somebody gets to be 23, 24, 25 years old, they don't want to share their medical record with their parent. Right. So that's obvious. Then the question becomes, what is the cutoff line?

And every state has a cutoff line. And I, so I, I'm curious to see where this one goes anyway.

That's all for today and that's all for this week. Hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving. Don't eat too much and hope you enjoy a long weekend. And we will look forward to getting back with you on Monday. If you know someone that might benefit from our channel, Fordham know, tell them that she's subscribed, they can do it at this week. health.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Thanks for listening. That's all for now.  

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