As of October 6, 2022, the long-awaited rules created by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on information blocking are now in effect. These new regulations are designed to prevent healthcare providers from withholding important patient information from other providers, insurers, or patients themselves.

Providers are no longer able to block the sharing of electronic health information. This will help to ensure that patients have greater access to their own health information and can make more informed decisions about their care. Additionally, this rule will help to create a more seamless and coordinated healthcare system by allowing providers to more easily share information with one another. Ultimately, this will lead to better care for patients and lower costs for the healthcare system as a whole.

What is Expected of Physicians

Physicians are now expected to take steps to ensure that their patients' electronic health information is accessible and usable. Information blocking is defined as practices that interfere with, prevent, or otherwise restrict the exchange or use of electronic health information. Physicians who engage in information blocking will be subject to civil monetary penalties of up to $1 million. In addition, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will be authorized to impose penalties of up to $100 per violation, with a maximum penalty of $50,000 for all violations of an identical requirement or prohibition within a calendar year.

The information blocking rule requires that electronic health information be released within 15 days of a patient's request. The rule also requires that electronic health information be released to a third party when the patient directs the covered entity to do so.

Information blocking practices include, but are not limited to, the following:

Knowingly and unreasonably restricting the interoperability of health information
Knowingly and unreasonably failing to provide access to health information in a timely manner
Knowingly and unreasonably charging unreasonable fees for providing access to or exchanging health information
Prohibiting or discouraging the use of certified electronic health record technology
Refusing to connect with another covered entity or information system

The Benefits

Encouraging the flow of health information

The rules require that health information be made available to patients, providers, and other entities in a timely manner. This will help to ensure that patients receive the care they need in a timely manner, and that providers have the information they need to make informed decisions about treatment.

Improving patient care
By promoting the sharing of health information, the rules will help to improve patient care. Patients will have access to more complete and accurate information about their health, and providers will be able to make more informed decisions about treatment.

Reducing costs
The rules will help to reduce the cost of health care by promoting the efficient use of resources. By making information more readily available, providers will be able to avoid duplicative tests and procedures, and patients will be able to receive care in a more timely manner.

Improving population health
The rules will help to improve population health by making information about health trends more readily available. This information can be used to develop interventions to address public health concerns.

How to Be Compliant

Healthcare providers can comply with the information blocking rules by ensuring that their systems are interoperable and that patient data is accessible to patients and other providers. Providers can also ensure that their systems are compliant with the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which requires the use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology. Finally, providers can participate in voluntary reporting of information blocking incidents to the OCR. OCR will then investigate and take enforcement action as appropriate.

Additional Challenges

One of the primary challenges facing healthcare stakeholders is managing and reconciling all of the health information that will be flowing in. Currently, most of this actionable clinical information is stored as unstructured free text in clinical narratives. This means there will be a growing need for accurate natural language processing in healthcare that can transform this unstructured data into codified form.

Conclusion

While some have criticized the new rules as too heavy-handed, others have praised them as a necessary step to ensure that patients have access to their own medical information. Only time will tell how effective the new rules will be in practice, but they represent a significant step forward in the fight against information blocking.

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