Health IT Now, a coalition of patient groups, provider organizations, health payers and health IT companies, led 12 other organizations in urging the HHS Office of Inspector General and ONC to eliminate the "harmful practice" of information blocking in an Aug. 29 letter.
Information blocking is a barrier to interoperability that poses a "significant risk to patient safety," the organizations wrote in the letter. The authors called on the administration to issue a proposed rule clarifying the information blocking provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act.
The authors recommended the proposed rule describe what information blocking is, what constitutes "special effort" in regards to eliminating blocking and promoting interoperability, how patient access should be measured and how the law interacts with existing laws like HIPAA and medical malpractice.
Co-signing the letter with Health IT Now were the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Medical Informatics Association, athenahealth, DirectTrust, Healthcare Leadership Council, IBM, ION Solutions, McKesson, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Partnership for Women and Families and Oracle.
Click here to view the full letter.
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