Health IT Group Raises Good Questions About “Information Blocking”

The 21st Century Cures Act covers a great deal of territory, with provisions that dedicate billions to NIH funding, Alzheimer’s research, FDA operations and the war on opioid addiction. It also contains a section prohibiting “information blocking.” One section of the law lists attempts to define information blocking, and lists some of the key ways healthcare players drag their feet when it comes to data sharing. The thing is, some industry organizations feel that these provisions raise more questions than they answer. In an effort to nail things down, a trade organization calling itself Health IT Now has written to the HHS Office of Inspector General and ONC head Donald Rucker, MD, asking them to issue a proposed rule answering their questions.  Parties signing the letter include a broad range of healthcare and health IT organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, athenahealth, DirectTrust, AMIA, McKesson and Oracle. I’m not going to list all the questions they’ve asked. You can read the entirety yourself. However, I will share two questions and offer responses of my own. One critical question is: What is information blocking and what is not? I think most of us know what the law is trying to accomplish, e.g. foster the kind of data sharing needed to accomplish key research and patient care outcomes goals. And the examples of what it considers information blocking make sense: Practices that restrict authorized access, exchange, or use [of...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: EHR Electronic Health Record Electronic Medical Record EMR Healthcare Healthcare Business Healthcare Interoperability HealthCare IT Precision Medicine 21st Century Cures Act AAFP AMIA DirectTrust Health IT Now HHS-OIG Informa Source Type: blogs