AHIMA, AMIA, and EHRA Release Final Report on Operationalizing the Definition of Electronic Health Information

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and the Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) announced today the release of a final report that examines key issues related to operationalizing the definitions of “electronic health information” (EHI) and “designated record set” (DRS). The report is intended to serve as a resource to assist providers, health IT systems, health information exchanges, and health information networks in complying with the information blocking provisions of the Cures Act Final Rule.

The Cures Act Final Rule includes interoperability requirements related to information blocking and health IT certification, both of which rely on the definition of EHI, which is grounded in the definition of the DRS as defined by HIPAA.

How these definitions will be applied by clinicians and developers are critical to successful compliance with the Cures Act Final Rule. This includes two rapidly approaching deadlines:

1.     October 6, 2022, when actors will be expected to share the full scope of EHI

2.     December 31, 2023, beginning of certification to the EHI export criterion—the process of electronic health records exporting EHI they’re storing

Last year, AHIMA, AMIA, and EHRA released preliminary recommendations for a consensus-based approach to operationalizing the definition of EHI. The final report reflects feedback from various stakeholders, including providers, health IT developers, health information professionals, health information exchanges, and health information networks, patient advocates, and additional discussions undertaken by Task Force members. The report continues to highlight key considerations that actors need to think about in operationalizing the definition of EHI.

The Task Force appreciates the feedback it received from stakeholders while drafting this report and will continue to work with stakeholders to further operationalize the definition of EHI as the stakeholder community adapts to the technical, regulatory, and business considerations related to the Cures Act Final Rule.