Hospitals, medical groups push back on ONC’s ‘excessive’ and ‘overly punitive’ data blocking penalties

Fierce Healthcare January 3, 2024
Heather Landi

Hospitals and clinician groups are pushing back on federal regulators’ proposal to enforce data blocking rules, arguing that the penalties are “excessive,” “unfair” and will discourage participation in value-based care programs.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a long-awaited rule in October that outlined “disincentives” for eligible hospitals or critical access hospitals, clinician groups and accountable care organizations that are found by the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to have committed information blocking — defined in the 21st Century Cures Act as the intentional interference with access, exchange or use of electronic health information except when required by law or under certain exceptions.

Unlike the direct penalties HHS began enforcing for health IT entities in September,...

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