Resource Details

Sensitive Information and the Electronic Patient Record

HITEQ Center, June 2023

Year Developed: 2023

Resource Type: Toolkit.

Primary Audience: Administrative Staff Clinicians PCAs
Secondary Audience: Board of Directors C-Suite (CEOs, CFOs, CIO, COOs, CMOs, etc.) Enabling Staff Outreach Staff

Language(s): English

Developed by: HITEQ (See other resources developed by this organization).

Resource Summary: With nearly 100% of community health centers utilizing electronic health records (EHR) to care for patients, focus has pivoted from implementation and new workflow development to enhancement in order to drive value and reflect patient needs and population trends. EHR technology presents potential opportunities and significant constraints. Providers frequently document and share potentially sensitive information in the EHR, such as risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), consistent offers of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), or patient sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).

Resource Details: With nearly 100% of community health centers utilizing electronic health records (EHR) to care for patients, focus has pivoted from implementation and new workflow development to enhancement in order to drive value and reflect patient needs and population trends. EHR technology presents potential opportunities and significant constraints. Providers frequently document and share potentially sensitive information in the EHR, such as risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), consistent offers of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), or patient sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). Capturing such information can be immensely helpful in providing care tailored to individuals’ needs, but additionally challenges teams to develop workflows that keep the data private rather than risk harm to patients through improper or unintended disclosure. This brief resource describes the risks and benefits of differing strategies to capture and steward sensitive information while emphasizing privacy and accessibility. These examples are shared to facilitate health center teams in developing workflows that are most appropriate for their settings and patient populations.

Resource Topic: Clinical Issues, Health Information Technology (HIT)/Data, Promising Practice, , Special and Vulnerable Populations, Telehealth, Workforce, Health Equity

Resource Subtopic: HIV/AIDS, Research and Data, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Privacy and Security, Operational Feasibility, , Population Health, Access and Equity, Clinical Delivery, Data and Reporting, Development/Training, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH).

Keywords: Case Studies, Clinical Coding, Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS), Data Collection, Management, and Analytics, Documentation, Education of - Staff (e.g., Competency-Based), Health Information Exchange (HIE), Health Risk and Behavior, Implementation Tools, Injury and Violence Prevention, LGBTQIA+, Mental Health, Non-Clinical Services, Patient Demographics, Patient Portals, Performance Improvement, Policies and Procedures, Quality Measures, Research, Risk Management.