One of every 10 middle and high school students in the U.S. are currently using e-cigarettes, according to survey data from the FDA and CDC. The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey on e-cigarette use among U.S. youth, published in today’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, shows that 2.5 million students in these grades reported current use of these nicotine-delivery systems.
Patients now have unfettered access to their digital health records under federal rules that came into full force yesterday. A blog from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology provides this background: “Since the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) became law in late 2016 and we completed our major rulemaking activities in 2020, we have sought to make sure that [information blocking] actors had ample time to evaluate and revise their practices related to [electronic health information (EHI)] and making it available for access, exchange, and use. This includes delaying the information blocking regulations applicability date by almost a year by first setting a November 2, 2020 applicability date, then extending that date to April 5, 2021. Additionally, we limited the scope of EHI for another 18 months from the applicability date via the information blocking definition (45 CFR 171.103) and the Content and Manner Exception (45 CFR 171.301).”