HHS Rule Establishes Penalties for Information Blocking

The disincentives are held up by the 21^st Century Cures Act.

The Health and Human Service Department has finalized a rule establishing penalties for health systems that block patients from accessing their health information.

Backed by the 21^st Century Cures Act ,the new rule is meant to ensure that patients and their care teams have access to their health information, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.

“When health information can be appropriately accessed and exchanged, care is more coordinated and efficient, allowing the healthcare system to better serve patients,” he said.

The new rule, which was initially proposed in October 2023, establishes the following:

• Hospitals or critical access hospitals that have committed information blocking will not be classified as a meaningful EHR user during the calendar year of the EHR reporting period in which the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) refers its determination to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
• A Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)-eligible clinician who has committed information blocking will not be a classified as a meaningful EHR user during the calendar year of the performance period in which OIG refers its determination to CMS. This includes group practices.
• Providers that are involved in Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), ACO participants, or ACO providers who commit information blocking may be ineligible to participate in the program for a minimum of one year.
  • Those providers may also forfeit revenues they might otherwise have earned via the Shared Savings Program.

Each disincentive will be effective 30 days after the publication of the final rule. Those under the Shared Savings Program would go into effect after January 1, 2025. A notice from HHS announcing the rule’s finalization notes that additional disincentives may be established in the future.