Federal healthcare officials put industry stakeholders on notice this week that patient data belongs to patients, and efforts to block patients’ access to their data will not be tolerated. One message was loud and clear from federal healthcare officials in Orlando, Florida, this week at the largest gathering of health IT experts: Patient data belongs to patients.Officials put industry stakeholders on notice over efforts to block patients’ access to their data. The Department of Health and Human Services made public several proposed rules aimed at increasing consumer access to their health data, but whether these regulations lead to the long-held goal of industrywide interoperability will take years to determine.”Its long overdue for the healthcare industry to be a part of the smartphone economy and enable patients to access their health data through an app of their choice, at no additional cost,” said Donald Rucker, M.D., national coordinator for health IT, closing out the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) annual conference and exhibition on Friday.

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