Connecting to the Mass HIway

(1) Provider Organizations. (a) The requirement that all providers shall connect to the Mass HIway applies to the following provider organizations. 1. Acute care hospitals 2. Community health centers (large and small) 3. Medical ambulatory practices (large and medium) (b) EOHHS may issue administrative bulletins or other issuances establishing Mass HIway connection dates for additional provider organizations. Such guidance will provide at least one year for affected provider organizations to connect to the Mass HIway. (2) Health Care Systems with Multiple Provider Organizations. For health care systems that comprise multiple provider organizations, the requirements in 101 CMR 20.00 apply to provider organizations as they are defined in 101 CMR 20.04. For example, if a health care system is comprised of multiple acute care hospitals and multiple medical ambulatory practices, then each acute care hospital within that health care system is required to meet the Mass HIway connection requirements for acute care hospitals described in 101 CMR 20.08(3) and (4), and each medical ambulatory practice within that health care system is required to meet the Mass HIway connection requirement for medical ambulatory practices described in 101 CMR 20.08(3). (3) Connection Requirement for All Provider Organizations. (a) All provider organizations that have required Mass HIway connection dates specified in 101 CMR 20.09 or in a subsequent administrative bulletin or other issuance, shall meet the M.G.L. c. 118I, § 7 requirement to connect to the Mass HIway by sending and receiving HIway Direct Messages. (b) The requirement to connect to the Mass HIway by sending and receiving HIway Direct Messages shall be under the following phased-in timeline. 1. Year 1. The provider organization shall send or receive HIway Direct Messages for at least one use case. The use case may be within any category of use cases. 2. Year 2. The provider organization shall send or receive HIway Direct Messages for at least one use case that is within the provider-to-provider communications category of use cases. 3. Year 3. The provider organization shall send HIway Direct Messages for at least one use case that is within the provider-to-provider communications category of use cases. The provider organization shall also receive HIway Direct Messages for at least one use case that is within the provider-to-provider communications category of use cases. One of these two use cases may be the use case that was used to meet the Year 2 requirement. 4. Year 4. The provider organization may be subject to penalties, as described in 101 CMR 20.13, if that organization has not met the requirements established in 101 CMR 20.08(3). (c) Sending or receiving HIway Direct Messages for any category of use case in Years 1, 2, and 3 is fulfilled by a provider organization consistently using HIway Direct Messaging for that use case when it is appropriate to do so. (d) Provider organizations must submit to EOHHS a use case narrative outlining how the Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 requirements have been fulfilled in accordance with 101 CMR 20.08(3)(b)through (c). Use case examples and submission requirements are established in the Mass HIway Policies and Procedures. (e) 101 CMR 20.09 provides the dates for Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4, for different provider organizations. (4) Connection Requirement for Acute Care Hospitals. (a) In addition to the requirement to connect to the Mass HIway by sending and receiving HIway Direct Messaging, as described in 101 CMR 20.08(3), acute care hospitals must disclose all, consistent with their obligations under 101 CMR 20.07, and federal and state privacy laws including, but not limited to HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and genetic testing, ADTs or equivalent messages regarding emergency department visits and hospital admissions, discharges and transfers to at least one certified ENS vendor within the statewide event notification service framework; the recipient certified ENS vendor(s) must then reflect ADTs to all certified ENS vendors for purposes of treatment or care coordination by ENS recipients. (b) Acute care hospitals must meet the requirement in 101 CMR 20.08(4)(a) by January 1, 2020. (c) If an acute care hospital implements a local opt-in or local opt-out process that limits ADTs that are sent to the statewide event notification service, that provider organization must actively educate staff and inform patients about the purpose of utilizing an event notification service, and report metrics in form and format required in the Mass HIway Policies and Procedures. (d) Penalties for not complying with 101 CMR 20.08(4)(a) through (c) take effect on July 1, 2020.