ONC Sets Sites on Information Blocking Rule Enforcement
At last week’s Health Innovation Summit, National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi discussed how the ONC is striving to make the interconnectivity and the communication flow of information across various systems from the federal to local and across public and private sectors more robust.
In addition, he discussed how the April 5th information blocking rule has sparked the agency to educate health information exchanges, providers and IT developers on the rule. The ONC is also working with the Office of Inspector General to shape the respective enforcement.
“One of the things that we’ve certainly seen with the public health emergency is that there was a one-way flow of information, but very limited ability, if any real ability, to be able to push information back down to the lower levels of public health infrastructure, as well as to the clinical settings where those organizations were at the frontline,” Tripathi said. “They really weren’t able to get through those systems any information that would help them make decisions on the group that would help us support the public health goals and the public health mission and public health emergency that we were in.”
Last August, we hosted a RosettaHealth podcast interview with Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project, who discussed her organization’s new information blocking boot camp and resources, which help health IT organizations to become compliant.
Specifically, The Sequoia Project is offering, through its boot camp, an in-depth study of the rules and practical steps to develop and implement effective implementation plans and compliance measures.
The organization is also offering an Information Blocking Compliance Resource Center that features dozens of free tools, checklists, reports and webinars from The Sequoia Project and its partners.
While the deadline for compliance has already passed, there is still much that HIT developers, EHR vendors, and providers can do to continually achieve information blocking compliance – as highlighted by Tripathi’s presentation last week.
It’s always good to remember that the ultimate goal of this effort is to boost the exchange of health data in ways that empowers patients and enhances overall care quality.
RosettaHealth can assist with any health information challenges you might have, book a free consultation with one of our interoperability experts.