CHIME’s Public Policy Team – Advocacy Call to Action
To inform our advocacy efforts and best represent the interests of our members and healthcare providers, CHIME is launching a short survey. This survey is to gauge your readiness for the information blocking mandates – including the upcoming October 6, 2022 information blocking compliance deadline, when healthcare providers must comply with the expanded definition of electronic health information (EHI). On this date, the definition of EHI expands from what is contained in the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) to electronic protected health information (ePHI).
The 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) included requirements related to “information blocking.” Healthcare providers, health IT developers of certified health IT, health information exchanges and health information networks must be in compliance with information blocking requirements as it relates to the sharing of electronic protected health information data (ePHI) data starting October 6, 2022. You can find the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) infographic depicting what the expanded scope of the EHI definition is (i.e., ePHI that is or would be in a Designated Record Set) and CHIME’s cheat sheet on which providers must comply here.
Prior to and since implementation of the ONC Final Rule detailing these requirements, CHIME has engaged in a two-year campaign educating our members on the details and nuances of the final rule including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) companion rule, the Interoperability and Patient Access final rule. You can find our cheat sheet on the rules here and a link to our one-stop website for all things information blocking here.
Additionally, we have worked to prepare our members for what the final enforcement could include and how the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) may proceed with implementing disincentives against providers. Penalties for vendors, HIEs and HINs can be up to $1 million per violation and policies under the law – but the policies related to this have not yet been finalized by HHS’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG). There is a different penalty structure for providers, however, and those policies have yet to be proposed by HHS, creating much uncertainty. Despite our best efforts to educate our members, we have continued to find that significant knowledge gaps still exist within the provider community with respect to implementation and enforcement of information blocking regulations.
On behalf of our members, CHIME has continued to advocate to ONC, OIG, and CMS to collectively work in order to provide additional education to providers related to the information blocking laws and requirements. Furthermore, we have requested the agencies consider both a one-year delay of the information blocking regulations, as well as issuing corrective action warning communications to providers prior to imposing any monetary disincentives related to an information blocking adjudication in the future. Provider compliance is first contingent on vendor readiness.
We continue to seek ONC, OIG, and CMS’ assistance in providing additional educational content to providers. Currently, there is no robust set of best practices and implementation guides published by any of these federal agencies that providers can reference as they prepare for the investigation and disincentive phase of information blocking regulations. Without real-world guidance, many providers could struggle with implementing internal policies to avoid allegations of information blocking.
We urge every member and healthcare provider who is required to comply with these policies to take our short survey to help shape our advocacy and these policies that directly impact so many of our members and providers!
If you have any questions about the survey or about the information blocking compliance deadline, please email [email protected].?