Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C0pUOcKL-n-/ When a women travels out-of-state to access medically necessary reproductive services including pregnancy termination, the records of her treatment can be, without her permission, shared with her in-state medical team if both institutions use the same electronic medical record system or EMR.  That’s a terrible problem when she lives in a state where abortion services are illegal. In April, 2023, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) proposed regulations that compel EMR companies to institute programming modifications so that sensitive health information such as a woman’s reproductive procedures can be shielded from automatic sharing without her permission beginning in January, 2026.  These protections for reproductive health information are supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the National Health Law Program, and the Center for Reproductive Rights as well as by more than 13 health ca