A couple of weeks ago, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it has extended compliance deadlines for the information blocking and health IT certification requirements in the 21st Century Cures Act.

Though, with the compliance deadline being April 5, 2021, many providers and payers are struggling to meet the compliance deadline, due to resources being used to address the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the standardized API functionality won't be required until December 2022.

According to a survey of 189 organizations – including payers, physician practices, hospitals, and vendors – by eHealth Initiative (eHI), 80 percent of the study’s participants reported that they will be challenged in meeting these deadlines.

“Despite the recent delays that push back the applicability date of many of the requirements in the final rules, the results reveal that payers, providers, and vendors have several areas of concern related to readiness,” said Jen Covich Bordenick, eHI chief executive officer in a statement.

As highlighted in this recent Fierce Healthcare article, providers are concerned about managing multiple APIs connected to different systems, while payers cited transforming data into a readable and digestible format to be a major challenge.

Here are some other notable findings from this study:

·      44 percent of respondents cited lack of prioritization as the biggest issue impacting readiness.

·      41 percent said there wasn't enough time for implementation.

·      40 percent cited the ongoing focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fortunately, there are resources to help care organizations meet these compliance deadlines.

For example, Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project, recently discussed with us in a RosettaHealth podcast interview, how her organization is offering an Information Blocking Compliance Boot Camp, as well as a number of compliance resources in the form of free tools, checklists, reports and webinars.

As the entire care arena develops plans for achieving compliance, the right health data exchange platform can help to achieve compliance, while also dramatically improving overall care quality.

RosettaHealth can assist with any health information challenges you might have, book a free consultation with one of our interoperability experts.