Confidentiality in the Age of Open Notes

This educational brief explores confidentiality policies and practices, safety considerations for survivors, methods for disclosing limits of confidentiality to patients, electronic health record (EHR) adaptations, tracking intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and exploitation (IPV/HT/E) measures in the Uniform Data System (UDS), and client-centered approaches to care. Protecting survivor confidentiality is a cornerstone of clinical care. With the rapid increase in telemedicine since the COVID-19 pandemic as well as expanded access to medical records and electronic health information by patients and their proxies (via ‘Open Notes’ and as a result of the 21st Century Cures Act rules), confidentiality becomes of the utmost importance as these changes increase the risk for information breaches. This brief includes practical considerations to help health centers (HCs) adapt to the evolving landscape of telemedicine and patient access to medical records. HCs can utilize the featured practices, policies, and resources to protect the confidentiality and increase the safety of survivors of IPV/HT/E.

This resource is available as a PDF (5 pages) in English.

Type: Resource

Related Resources