Overview

Successful use of Health IT enabled Quality Improvement requires a strong organizational foundation. This includes understanding motivating factors as well as barriers, communicating the value of using Health IT to improve quality and outcomes, and building buy in and commitment throughout all levels of the organization. Resources in this section provide ideas and guidance on how to navigate this critical first step.

Minor and Parental Access to Patient Portals

HITEQ Center / Tuesday, November 29, 2016

/ Categories: Electronic Patient Engagement, Patient Portals, HIPAA

Minor and Parental Access to Patient Portals

National and State-based examples and use cases

This guide provides examples and overviews of patient portal considerations for minors as it relates to Meaningful Use, HIPAA. state consent laws and associated policies. The articles and presentations included for download and linked to from related websites currently include examples from the following national and state guidelines:

National-level Minors' Consent Laws by State
California
Minnesota
New York

As appropriate material is identified, further states will be included. If you are aware of relevant documentation within your state, even if already included, please send to HITEQinfo@jsi.com.

Please Note: This article and the material within is meant to provide general information and awareness of considerations for minors as it relates to patient portals and should not be considered legal counsel for structuring policies around minor's data.

Resource Links

Managing the Privacy and Security of Patient PortalsA presentation from the Sutter Health Mayo Clinic perspective of Rochester, Minnesota
Patient Portals: Considerations for MinorsAn overview with a California state example by the Center for Democracy and Technology
An Overview of Minors' Consent Law from the Guttmacher InstituteThe legal ability of minors to consent to a range of sensitive health care services—including sexual and reproductive health care, mental health services and alcohol and drug abuse treatment—has expanded dramatically over the past 30 years. This trend reflects the recognition that, while parental involvement in minors’ health care decisions is desirable, many minors will not avail themselves of important services if they are forced to involve their parents. With regard to sexual and reproductive
A link to the Electronic Access to Adolescents' Health Records: Legal, Policy, and Practice Implications article from the American Academy of Family PhysiciansIn the age of the electronic health record (EHR), how can we balance adolescent confidentiality with the need to involve parents in adolescents' care? This was the question faced by the clinical and management staff of the Institute for Family Health, a network of federally qualified health centers in New York, when it sought to provide adolescent patients access to their health information through an online portal.
A link to the AHIMA article on Parental Proxy Access via Web Portals: Ensuring Compliance and Quality DocumentationAllowing parental proxy access to a child’s records is not quite as easy as it may sound. An organization is not just releasing information to the patient, it is releasing information about a patient to another individual. Organizations must address a number of issues before allowing parents to access their children’s medical records via Web portals.
A link to the Patient Engagement HIT article titled Balancing Patient Portal Privacy and Access for Pediatric CareAt what point do providers begin asking pediatric patients to take responsibility and ownership of their health by controlling their own portal? How do privacy rules affect child portal access and treatment access? And how do providers still encourage patients to build a strong support system by involving their parents in their care?

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Tags: Meaningful Use patient engagement HIPAA patient portals California minors Minnesota state policy 42 CFR Part 2 minor consent

Intended Audience

Health Center Leadership

Related Resources

Acknowledgements

This resource collection was compiled by the HITEQ Center staff with guidance from HITEQ Advisory Committee members and collaborators of the HITEQ Center.

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Minor and Parental Access to Patient Portals

National and State-based examples and use cases

Resource Links

Related Resources

Acknowledgements

A Conceptual Framework