8 Information Blocking Regulatory Reminders

As we mentioned in our previous coverage of 10 healthcare organizations requesting a postponement of the deadline, on October 6th the full information blocking legislation goes into effect.  While those organizations asked for a delay, it does not seem this is going to happen.  Every Information Blocking actor should be ready for this deadline.

Whether this was prompted by the request for a postponement or was already planned, ONC has put out a dedicated information blocking webpage and has planned 2 virtual office hours where you can get your questions answered.  Plus, Steve Posnack from ONC also published a blog article with eight regulatory reminders to help prepare people for October 6th.  Here’s the 8 reminders:

  • Reminder #1 – The information blocking definition’s limitation on the scope of electronic health information (EHI) is lifted as of October 6, 2022.
  • Reminder #2 – IB actors’ practices include acts and omissions.
  • Reminder #3 – The information blocking regulations’ exceptions are not solely “one size fits all” and address the facts and circumstances of the situation at hand.
  • Reminder #4 – Not all health information that’s electronic is EHI under the regulatory definition. And if such information is not EHI, then it’s not covered by the information blocking regulations.
  • Reminder #5 – How IB actors make EHI available for access, exchange, and use can and will vary based on who the IB actor is, their technological sophistication, and who it is that is seeking to access, exchange or use an IB actor’s EHI.
  • Reminder #6 – Information blocking is about “the data” (i.e., EHI) regardless of whether ONC-certified health IT is involved.
  • Reminder #7 – Use of certain information blocking exceptions by actors will provide clear notification to requestors whether their request to access, exchange, or use EHI is delayed or denied.
  • Reminder #8 – Information blocking claims are confidential and restricted from public disclosure.

Be sure to go and read the full article to get all the details and clarifications on each reminder.

Are you ready for the October 6th Information Blocking deadline?  Is there still something that’s not clear to your organization?  Now’s the time to be prepared.  Otherwise, you’ll be added to the Information Blocking stats page.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

2 Comments

  • The ramifications of this rule are enormous. We are starting finally the important process of DECENTRALIZATION of our medical records system. The power of medical records shifts back to the people.
    October 6th. deserves a huge celebration!

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