State Healthcare Authority Approves HIE Rules With Clarifications For Mental Health Services

The Oklahoma Healthcare Authority officially voted and approved the rules for the Health Information Exchange (HIE), requiring providers to upload and share consenting patient records in a statewide online database.

This is intended to give healthcare providers easier access to a patient’s medical history. Lawmakers say the database will help reduce duplicate testing, and medication incidents, and overall streamline patient care. However, the mental health community came together and said their patients should be exempt.

Therapists, counselors, and patients from across the state gathered at the Capitol to protest the HIE last weekend.

“At the end of the day we have to protect our client’s confidentiality,” said Tyler Copeland, a licensed professional counselor who attended the peaceful protest.

He and his colleagues’ concerns were clear.

“We were even told by some of the lawmakers that it may need to include things like uploading psychotherapy notes or diagnosis or just the fact that that person is in therapy,” said Copeland.

He says this would make it difficult for a patient to feel safe.

“When you’re coming in and receiving treatment or looking to get treatment for the first time, you’re having to talk about some really sensitive things with someone you don’t know,” he says. ”If there’s any doubt that this information will remain private and confidential I think it would keep people from coming into treatment.”

The OHCA addressed those concerns this week.

“Let me be abundantly clear,” said Kevin Corbett, the Oklahoma Secretary of Health, “The patient makes the decision on where their data goes.”

He confirmed psychotherapy notes, diagnoses, and other behavioral health information can be marked as sensitive, and only entered into the HIE with written consent from the patient.

“If the patient says no… no data gets transmitted,” he said.

Concerns were also raised that patients' names would be released, even if they refused to have their information entered. OHCA addressed this concern as well.

“We have no knowledge of you as a patient of that provider until that information is supplied to the HIE,” he said.

Copeland says this is a step in the right direction.

“Yeah, I’m really encouraged,” he says. “It seems the OHCA responded and made some changes to the rules.”

Healthcare providers will be required to connect to the HIE by July 1st.