Utilizing Academic and Service Collaboration to Navigate the Complexities of EBP and Research in the Age of the Electronic Medical Record and HIPAA Privacy Regulations

Partnerships between academic and service organizations are critical to the promotion of robust programs of EBP and clinical nursing research.  However, increasing privacy regulations and the use of electronic medical records have created new challenges.  The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of the challenges of accessing clinical data in the setting of the electronic medical record (EMR) and increasing Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule (HIPPA) regulation; and to provide an exemplar of the use of an academic-service collaboration to navigate nurse faculty’s access to the electronic medical record. The electronic medical record offers significant benefits to the patient and healthcare provider.  However, challenges emerge with respect to access to health data information for the clinical researcher and issues related to HIPAA compliance. Although our Health System and College of Nursing (CON) are all part of one University, the College of Nursing is not considered part of the covered entity under HIPAA regulations.  Through collaboration between the leadership of the Health System and the College of Nursing a successful solution was achieved.  A memorandum of understanding was implemented between the organizations which include a nurse-led oversight committee, Health Information Systems Access Review Committee.  This committee co-chaired by the Health System Clinical Nurse Scientist and Chief Nursing Executive reviews each faculty proposal for the following issues: 1). level of medical record access requested  2). compliance with privacy and security training 3). human resource and health issues e.g. licensure and vaccinations 4). security and background checks 5). consideration of reputational risk of research to the Health System.  Following implementation of the memorandum of understanding, CON faculty members are now able to successfully access the necessary hospital patient data to pursue their programs of EBP and research.