ONC’s information blocking regulations apply to interferences with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI) (45 CFR Part 171) and define certain exceptions to the definition of information blocking. Thus, it’s important that those subject to the information blocking regulations – health care providers, developers of certified health IT, and health information networks/exchanges (cumulatively, “actors”) – understand what health information the regulations cover.

The ONC Cures Act Final Rule went into effect on April 5, 2021 and as a result we have seen an increase in both the quantity and complexity of questions regarding the regulations. We’re eager to help the industry successfully implement these new requirements and, even more important, to reap the many benefits it offers for patients, providers, health insurers, developers, and the possibilities it opens up for public health, population health, research – really,

The information blocking regulations at 45 CFR Part 171 began to apply to health care providers, health IT developers of certified health IT, health information exchanges, and health information networks on April 5, 2021, per ONC’s recent interim final rule. That makes now a good time to consider stakeholders’ views about practices that may constitute information blocking, including the extent to which they exist. Our recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association reports on a survey of health information exchanges’ (HIEs) perceptions of other stakeholders’ practices related to information blocking.

Enacted by Congress over four years ago through Section 4004 of the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) and implemented through a final rule released over one year ago, the time has come for the benefits of the Cures Act’s information blocking provision to swing into full gear.