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Providers face monetary disincentives for violating information blocking, under a proposed rule released today by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The proposed rule, with 60-day comment period, would establish disincentives for healthcare providers found by the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to have committed information blocking. This is when a provider knowingly and unreasonably interferes with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information, except as required by law or covered by a regulatory exception.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Today’s proposal complements former OIG actions establishing information blocking penalties for the other actors such as health information technology (IT) developers of certified health IT or other entities offering certified health IT, health information exchanges and health information networks.
It gives teeth to infractions by hospitals, physicians and accountable care organizations.