AARP Eye Center
Health care providers should continue to be responsible for obtaining and maintaining the health records of their patients. Health care providers should also be empowered to coordinate care seamlessly with data in a format that can be shared easily with other providers. This is known as interoperability.
Consumers should not have to be responsible for providing their health data and information between or among their health care providers. However, consumers can be encouraged to use their data to manage their health. Federal policymakers should continue to promote the development of stronger standards for Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which facilitate the exchange of health data between providers and between providers and patients. Standards development should meaningfully include affected parties, including consumers.
Federal policymakers should promote interoperability across the health system through requirements and incentives. They should establish interoperability standards that apply to all health providers, long-term care providers, and payers.
Federal and state governments should advance the use of health information technology. They should continue to explore innovative approaches to integrating information and sharing data to improve care and support consumer and family caregiver engagement. They should also develop the infrastructure to support standards and privacy protections that are at least consistent with national standards. Federal and state policymakers should ensure that policies to promote interoperability do not impose undue burden and responsibility on consumers and family caregivers
Federal and state governments should require providers to incorporate long-term services and support (LTSS) service plans in electronic health records to enable providers to utilize a standardized care plan as consumers with LTSS needs move across settings.
New treatments, drugs, remote-monitoring technologies, and medical devices should be required to demonstrate safety and effectiveness before they are approved for coverage or sale. Policymakers and appropriate regulators should actively monitor the advertising of remote-monitoring, wearable, or other devices. However, consumers should be encouraged to use their data to manage their health.