ONC: 77% of info-blocking complaints accuse providers

The Health and Human Services Department has received nearly 300 complaints of healthcare entities allegedly blocking access to patient data since new regulations that required such information exchange went into effect last year, according to data released Monday.

Beginning in April 2021, the first phase of a data-sharing rule from HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology went into effect, which requires healthcare providers, health information exchanges and developers of health IT certified by an ONC program to share data with patients and one another if requested, unless they meet one of eight exceptions.

The rule, a provision of the 21st Century Cures Act, is expected to force a "culture change" in healthcare, ONC chief Micky Tripathi said last year, by establishing data-sharing—and not restricting data—as the norm.

Since the rule went into effect April 5 through the end of January 2022, ONC has received 274 complaints that contained claims of possible information blocking through the agency's public reporting portal. The top type of organization accused of alleged information blocking was healthcare providers, accounting for more than three-quarters of complaints at 211.

Health IT developers were accused of information blocking in 15.3% complaints. Only two complaints accused health information exchanges of information blocking.Roughly 5.5% of complaints accused an entity that's not covered by the ONC's rule. In nine complaints, it was unclear what type of organization was being accused.

Nearly two-thirds of complaints were submitted by patients, followed by 11.7% submitted on a patient's behalf and another 11.7% were submitted by healthcare providers.

The data shared Monday involves complaints of alleged information blocking, according to ONC, and doesn't mean that information blocking has occurred. The complaints of possible information blocking submitted to ONC are shared with HHS' Office of Inspector General to potentially investigate.

In cases where someone accuses a health IT developer, ONC can also review the claim as part of the agency's health IT certification program, which prohibits information blocking.

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"Though we cannot tell through simple triage whether a particular claim represents information blocking as defined in the regulations, some of the concerns described in the claims we have received appear on their face consistent with examples of practices likely to interfere with access, exchange or use of [electronic health information]," reads an ONC blog post.

Healthcare providers, for example, have submitted complaints of allegedly being charged "excessive fees" to access health data, according to the blog post.

OIG in 2020 released a proposed rule that outlined how it planned to impose financial penalties on health information exchanges and health IT developers that block health data. The rule has not been finalized, but OIG is expected to release the final rule in March, Tripathi wrote in Health Affairs this month.

HHS has yet to propose disincentives for healthcare providers that engage in information blocking, as it was directed to do in the 21st Century Cures Act.

The data released Monday represents ONC's first release of information related to information blocking claims, which the agency plans to refresh monthly. Organizations since April have only been required to share a limited set of data elements with patients and one another, but starting in October will be required to share a broader set of information held in health records.