Statewide Standard Authorization Form - We Need Your Input!

In 2012, Governor Kasich proposed and the Ohio General Assembly enacted legislation to harmonize state privacy law with federal law (RC 3798.02). Prior to the change, state law applied standards for information sharing that in some cases were inconsistent with federal privacy law, which created barriers to electronic health information exchange and care coordination.

The new law also required Ohio Medicaid to develop a standard authorization form for the use and disclosure of protected health information (RC 3798.10).  The purpose of the standard form is to improve care coordination for a patient across multiple providers by making it easier to share protected health information in a secure manner. The form is not required to be used, but a properly executed form must be accepted by the entity receiving it.

Ohio Medicaid developed the standard authorization form (draft below) as part of the broader statewide initiative to integrate physical and behavioral health care services within Medicaid managed care. The form was developed as a partnership among state agencies, behavioral health providers, hospitals, health plans, health information exchanges, and criminal justice, including the Attorney General’s Task Force on Criminal Justice and Mental Illness.

The form is currently being field-tested at several hospitals.  The next step is for Ohio Medicaid to submit a draft rule, including the form and instructions how to use it, to the Common Sense Initiative for review.  At the same time, outreach will occur to a broader group of stakeholders (OHIMA included) for input on the form itself and to test and refine technical assistance documents that support using the form in a broad variety of circumstances and settings. The goal is to have the standard authorization form and rule adopted and in use before the end of the year.

• FORM (draft) - EXPIRED
  
• INSTRUCTIONS (draft) - EXPIRED

Please review the draft form and instructions.  If you have any comments (positive or negative), fill out this SURVEY (EXPIRED) by Monday, June 18th.  Your comments will be reviewed by an OHIMA taskforce who will formally submit our comments to Ohio Medicaid.  If you are interested in serving on OHIMA's taskforce, please indicate your interest within the survey above.