[TriLUG] TriLUG Digest, Vol 2801, Issue 1

[MvER - TrLUG via TriLUG]

On 04/17/2016 12:00 PM, via TriLUG wrote:
> About two weeks ago I attended a webinar about Meaningful Use (MU) > and Electronic Health Records (EHR).  The needless hoops that a small
> medical practice needs to jump through to avoid paying a penalty on >
their Medicare patients is absurd.  So absurd that I wrote to my US >
Congress critters that night.  I am still pissed, so the next step is >
a “We the People” petition.
These comments:

 1. I applaud this effort and have signed as #8 (maybe).
 2. One of my pet peeves is every physician has an intake form and every
one  seems to differ from all the others in either content or format. I
have been resisting this by having my own form that I give at new
practices in lieu of filling out theirs. The basic intake form needs
some contact fields, ID nos. and insurance(s), beyond that every
practice/specialty needs suitable data for itself --- again all the
offices of a specialty seem to use THEIR own versions, no commonality. 
Uggh!
 3. I have recently added material to my medical signature block,
because as I understand it, I may initiate email communication and
authorize recipients to respond to me without fear of offending the
HIPPA-nazies. That material is appended here
 4. If anyone had improvements, I'd welcome them.

From: http://www.foxgrp.com/blog/hipaa-and-email-rules/ :

“Patients may initiate communications with a provider using e-mail. If
this situation occurs,
the health care provider can assume (unless the patient has explicitly
stated otherwise)
that e-mail communications are acceptable to the individual."

I, _________ ___________, wish to use email to interact with health care
providers for {myself or a person for whom I am an agent} __________
_________.
I request that Social Security and/or Medicare numbers be  omitted or
redacted but otherwise believe
the risks of mis-appropriation or mis-use of data are minimal compared 
with the benefits of email communication.
Please attach files, including document, spreadsheet or .PDF formatted
materials.

Mike Rulison