Information blocking is considered to be any practice or set of procedures that prevent the easy access of patient data by either the patient or other healthcare providers.
The reason for the information blocking rules is to ensure that patients can access their data and that no harm can come to patients due to an inability to access their data, whether the block is affecting them or another healthcare provider.
Information blocking details were laid out in the 21st Century Cures Act, which lists the many things a provider or other person known as an "Actor" cannot do if it will in any way impede the ability to swiftly access and transfer data between health providers or from health provider to patient. Some of the most common examples of information blocking include:
Consent demands
Any policies or procedures that require healthcare personnel to obtain a patient or caregiver's written consent before sharing an individual's Electronic Health Information (EHI) with another provider (including unaffiliated providers) for treatment purposes.
Contractual blocks
Having a contract that prevents sharing of EHI or limits how EHI is is shared with patients, their healthcare providers, or other authorized third parties who need access to facilitate patient care or follow-up (or services related to patient care.)
Inaccessible data systems or formats
Locking in patients or healthcare providers to a specific and gated technology or healthcare network due to the fact that EHI isn't portable or standardized to allow sharing easily.
Slow response
Taking several days to respond and not providing same-day access to EHI in a form and format requested by a patient or a patient's healthcare provider, when the capability exists to comply immediately.
What are the consequences of information blocking?
Information blocking negatively impacts a wide range of people across the patient care chain.
Restricted patient access
Patients can experience issues accessing or reading their own information. It is vital for patients to have access to their own medical records so they can review their diagnoses and medications and bring up any concerns about their treatment plan or upcoming procedures with their doctor.
Restricted provider access
Doctors and specialists can run into difficulty finding out important information on a new patient or a referral if they can't quickly and easily access pertinent records. This can lead to delays in treatment or miscommunications that can cause harm to a patient.
Restricted third party access
Laboratories and testing facilities can find themselves forced to delay a test or scan if they can't access the correct information on a patient or if the wrong patient's information was supplied. This can lead to a missed appointment that has to be rescheduled.
Expensive penalties
In addition to these practical problems, health care providers could eventually be forced to pay a financial penalty for information blocking. So far there have been no penalties assessed, but it is an authorized action and the proposed penalty could total up to $1 million for each infraction.
How can information blocking be avoided?
You can help minimize your risk of information blocking by following these steps:
- Updating all relevant portions of your Privacy Policy and HIPAA manual to reflect the latest requirements under the Cures Act.
- Changing any policies that require patients to request records in writing,
- Removing any charges to patients for access to electronic health information.
- Verifying that your vendors are also in line with the new policies. appropriately account for your new policies above.
How CINs/HIEs help to alleviate information blocking
By adopting certain standards and structures, you can maximize your ability to share data securely and easily. Working as part of a CIN and integrating with an HIE can help you maintain patient data privacy and facilitate ease of access.
What is a CIN?
A CIN is a clinically integrated network. This is a group of physicians and other healthcare providers who choose to join together to make information sharing easier while providing better quality care for patients and lowering the overall cost of care.
Forming a CIN can help you streamline your entire organization, and makes partnering with other healthcare providers easy. You'll be able to grow your practice, lab or clinic and form strong relationships with patients and referring providers.
Another good thing about CINs is that they can work equally well for smaller providers and enterprises. Being part of a CIN benefits those with four or five providers grouped together as well as it does a larger network, and can be scaled over time.
CINs make it easier to share data because everyone in the CIN has access to the same EHI database. They will be able to access and share patient data back and forth within the CIN as well as with patients and unaffiliated but authorized third parties.
What is an HIE?
A health information exchange creates easy paths for information to travel on, allowing requests to be delivered to the exchange and information gathered from the correct source and sent in reply.
Integrating with an HIE allows you to quickly and efficiently reply to records requests, initiate records transfers, and safeguard patient information throughout the process. It's the ideal way to manage data sharing in a healthcare setting.
Another benefit of being part of a larger HIE is the ability to revamp your EHRs to be more accessible and to obtain data almost instantly and add it to your own files when onboarding a new patient or accepting a referral.
HIEs make it easier to share data because everyone connected to the HIE can access the same EHI and connect with anyone else in the network. External parties connected to similar networks can also make connections to the main network and be provided with urgently needed EHI.
Where Tangible fits in
Tangible provides a strong foundation for compliance with information blocking rules. Our Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) solution integrates seamlessly with multiple networks and exchanges. To learn more about how Tangible can integrate with your CIN and/or HIE and help you achieve compliance with info-blocking regulations, contact us today.
