After months of fierce opposition, the electronic health record company Epic said Thursday it is dropping its opposition to a federal rule designed to improve patients’ access to their medical records, removing a potential barrier to its implementation.
In a statement provided to STAT, the company said changes made by federal regulators in the final draft of the rule assuage its concern that the freer exchange of information, especially with private app developers, would undermine patients’ privacy.
“They created final rules with many material improvements, including greater flexibility for healthcare organizations to educate patients on how apps will use their data,” the statement said. The company also cited changes in the rule that place greater emphasis on the use of common data formats to share patient information between health systems.
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