Main Health knowledge logistics firm Datavant introduced Tuesday IT will not be charging sufferers for Health data requests as a part of what IT calls its dedication to making sure a “secure movement of affected person Information throughout the healthcare ecosystem.”
Datavant mentioned in an announcement that IT processed over 2 million affected person requests in 2023. The corporate’s community contains 70 p.c of the highest 100 Health techniques within the U.S. Officers from the corporate mentioned they’re the primary release-of-Information service to supply free entry to data.
“As we transfer into a spot the place there’s the supply of extra digital connectivity, we not have people who find themselves swivel chairing between like a number of screens with the intention to get medical data,” Datavant’s Chief Product Officer Shannon West advised The Hill. “We consider this is a vital alternative for us to essentially set the tone for the remainder of the business to say sufferers ought to have entry to their medical data at no cost.”
Whereas there are some variations throughout states and totally different Health techniques, West famous the everyday cost for medical data is $6.50, which is the flat charge that federal authorities allow entities to cost in the event that they don’t want to calculate the precise value of processing a request for affected person Health Information.
This determination by Datavant, which West mentioned resulted after “inner debate for a while,” comes after the corporate settled allegations of overcharging for some affected person data a couple of years in the past.
Ciox Health, a subsidiary of Datavant, was the topic of a 2019 class motion lawsuit alleging the corporate charged extreme charges for copies of sufferers’ data in Texas. Ciox, which merged with Datavant in 2021, agreed to Health-faces-lawsuit-over-excessive-Health-record-copying-fees”>pay $1.85 million in 2022 to settle the swimsuit with out admitting any wrongdoing.
Kimberly White, Health Information Programs Operations Supervisor at Dana-Farber Most cancers Institute, referred to as the choice by Datavant a “sport changer.”
“Even in case you do every thing proper, generally IT simply doesn’t work out. , filling out varieties, ensuring signatures match — all this different stuff,” White mentioned. “So, by having this useful resource with Datavant now anyone, so long as you’re linked with Datavant, can entry their data with simply easy verification.”
She additionally famous that many sufferers might go to 1 supplier for a prognosis and to a different for remedy, making quick access to their data important for his or her suppliers to have a transparent image on their situation.
Dana-Farber made the choice to not cost for affected person data earlier than Datavant, with the hospital deciding to tackle the price of the service. In response to West, the price of offering this entry at no cost will probably be “undoubtedly within the thousands and thousands.”
Based mostly on the two million requests processed in 2023, West estimates {that a} comparable variety of individuals will make requests for his or her medical data in 2024, with probably extra selecting to take action now that there isn’t any financial value.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not printed, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Health-care-data-company-free-medical-records/”>