Pathology/Lab Coding Alert
Use PHI Patient Access Form
Question: What guidance or tools could you give our lab to help us meet our obligation to provide patients with their protected health information (PHI) when they want lab test reports? Codify Subscriber Answer: The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) created a new form for providers to "streamline the process when patients request their PHI under HIPAA and comply with the timeframe and fees set out by the Office for Civil Rights' (OCR) guidance of 2016," says AHIMA's "Advocacy and Policy Efforts" section on its website. The AHIMA form is free, and it's easy to read, download, and use. It offers detailed reasoning with HHS and OCR links that explain why you must follow certain HIPAA protocols (i.e. 30-day timeframe for delivery of PHI to patient) when patients request their medical records. The form can be "customized by providers and organizations to capture the data you need as well as organizational contact information," the AHIMA guidance notes. Resource: For a link to the AHIMA information and patient request form, visit www.ahima.org/about/advocacy/efforts.
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