Lexology March 31, 2022
ONC Final Rule
Information blocking
On May 1, 2020, the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) released a Final Rule (the “ONC Final Rule”), which implements the information blocking provision of the 21st Century Cures Act, enacted in 2016. The information blocking provision applies to health care providers, health IT (“HIT”) developers, and health information exchanges/networks (“HIEs”).
“Information blocking”, in this context, refers to actions that discourage or interfere with the interoperability of electronic health information (“EHI”) except when necessary to comply with laws, such as HIPAA. An example of a common instance of information blocking is when healthcare entities charge patients unreasonable fees for copies of their...