ASTP highlights ongoing issues with information blocking (original) (raw)

Despite prohibition of information blocking in April 2021, issues with the access, exchange and use of electronic health information (EHI) persist across the care continuum.

Since the information blocking regulation went into effect in April 2021, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and ONC has received daily information blocking complaints, according to a Health IT Buzz blog post.

Notably, almost 90% of information blocking complaints received by ASTP/ONC have been against healthcare providers.

ASTP listening sessions have revealed various concerns about potential information blocking activity. For instance, healthcare providers might be imposing preconditions on the access, exchange and use of electronic health information (EHI) that the HIPAA Privacy Rule or jurisdictional laws do not require.

Other concerns include perceived barriers to data access, such as gatekeeping, delays and challenges in establishing the connection or registration of apps for patient data access.

ASTP has outlined certain practices that would or would likely implicate the information blocking regulations in rulemaking and FAQs.

For instance, the following practices would likely constitute information blocking:

Practices by developers of certified health IT

Stakeholders have also raised concerns regarding practices by developers of certified health IT. For instance, individuals have highlighted concerns that developers fail to publish service base URLs for patients' access to their EHI and only provide the URLs to specifically approved apps.

Additionally, the blog post emphasized that an actor's refusal to register an app that allows patients to access EHI would effectively prevent its use and likely implicate information blocking.

Other examples in the Cures Act Final Rule of practices by certified health IT developers that could implicate information blocking include the following:

ASTP encourages all information blocking actors to review the examples of practices that could implicate information blocking in the Cures Act Final Rule. The agency will continue to engage with the Office of Inspector General to monitor regulatory concerns related to information blocking and the certification program.

Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.

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