Osteopaths are now among the professionals empowered to exchange a patient’s medical information between practitioners. A decree specifies the framework.
No doubt they respected it so far, but outside of any legal framework. Since July 20 and the publication of a decree in the Official Journal, osteopaths are officially part of the professions authorized to exchange health data between practitioners, and as such subject to medical confidentiality.
The text, resulting from the health law, indeed strengthens the exchange of information between healthcare professionals. It will allow osteopaths to have access to their patients’ health data (medical records, examinations, etc.) and to pass it on to other practitioners in contact with them, with the aim of improving their care pathway. All of this, of course, within a specific framework.
Patients consulted
Patients must therefore be informed in advance of the nature of the information exchanged, as well as of the recipients. In addition, only data “strictly necessary for the coordination or continuity of care, prevention, or medico-social and social monitoring of said person” can be communicated, specifies the decree.
In a press release, the French Syndicate of Osteopaths (SFDO) welcomes such a measure that it has supported for several years. The legislation indeed had to evolve: osteopaths, excluded from the information loop, were denied access to patient data.
“This situation, a source of legal insecurity for osteopaths and all health professions required to work in collaboration, led these actors to refrain from communicating with each other, and thus deprive the patient of a secure and quality follow-up. », Underlines the union.
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