As you may be aware, the State of California enacted legislation last year under Assembly Bill 352 (AB 352) and Assembly Bill 254 (AB 254) aimed at mitigating the risk of out-of-state prosecution of individuals seeking abortion services and gender affirming care in California and healthcare providers rendering these services. In totality, this legislation applies to electronic health record (EHR) developers as well as health care providers, health plans, employers, and digital health companies that store, maintain, or handle restricted health information concerning abortion-related services, sexual health, fertility, or contraception.
Among other requirements, the law requires EHR developers to implement data segmentation capabilities to segregate medical information related to gender affirming care, abortion, abortion-related services, and contraception from the rest of a patient’s medical record. The July 1, 2024 deadline for full compliance is an uphill battle for the EHR industry, as the law necessitates significant software development to introduce data segmentation capabilities that are beyond the current technical capabilities of commercially available EHR systems. As of June 19, 2024, the State of California has not issued any formal requirements or regulations outlining the preferred method to achieve these requirements. Consequently, we are working closely with stakeholders across the State to determine our best course of action.
Until a clear path forward is finalized, we encourage clients to implement currently available capabilities within NextGen® Enterprise EHR to protect sensitive data and help providers avoid non-compliance with the law. To learn more about these current capabilities, as well as planned enhancements, please review the FAQ pertaining to your NextGen Healthcare solution.
In advance of the July 1 deadline, NextGen Healthcare will provide additional information and resources to users of our solutions, including a Sensitive Data Best Practices Guide to assist them in using currently available functionality to meet certain State requirements.