Morning Headlines 1/18/16

New Guidelines Nudge Doctors to Give Patients Access to Medical Records

The New York Times covers the recent OCR clarification reminding providers of their obligation to provide electronic copies of medical records to patients.

NHS out-of-hours GP service 12-hour wait ‘clinically unsafe’

In England, NHS callback times have reached 12 hours for patients calling out of hours with non-emergency conditions, a situation some describe as a “significant risk to patient safety.” The delay is blamed on a shortage of doctors and inefficient call handling.

Privacy-breach discipline against 24 of 48 health-care workers withdrawn

In Canada, 24 healthcare workers accused of inappropriately accessing medical records have had disciplinary actions against them dropped after a nurses union successfully argued that the hospitals policy was unclear.