The Information Blocking Rule ensures efficient sharing of electronic health information (EHI), prohibiting unnecessary restrictions unless legally justified. Compliance is critical for healthcare providers, EHRs, and HIE networks to avoid penalties. Learn simple steps to avoid information blocking.

Staying compliant with information blocking regulations is essential, not only to avoid penalties but to protect patient trust. With the ONC's rules tightening and hefty fines at stake, it's more critical than ever for EHRs and healthcare providers to understand and adhere to these guidelines, ensuring transparency, data-accessibility, and data-sharing that empowers patients.

ONC warns healthcare providers and developers to keep data access open as directed in HTI-1 and the Cures Act. Hidden information blocking could result in a bone-chilling visit from regulators this Halloween.

This week, Micky Tripathy, the ASTP/ONC Acting Chief AI Officer, published a blog post addressing significant gaps in the implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act and brought the focus back to FHIR APIs. This blog captures the 5 key points he made to warn and to enforce the mandates. Join the conversation.

January 1, 2023, is not just the beginning of a new year, it is also the beginning of the enforcement period for the Information Blocking portion of the Cures Act. The EHRs must provide FHIR APIs for all their users, and Providers must ensure that their FHIR API endpoints are publicly available.

The ONC has announced its punitive action plan to deal with non-compliant Health IT developers. EHRs failing compliance will undergo Direct Review, have to submit a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) and will be placed under a Certification Ban till they become compliant. Integrating with (g)(10) pre-certified BlueButtonPRO is an easy solution.

Tune in to the message the ONC is broadcasting through their recent blogs/media to reinforce the need for (g)(10) FHIR® API and Information Blocking compliance, whom these apply to, and how the mandates will be enforced. Let’s turn up the volume on the latest hits from ONC.

The misinformation floating around combined with an incomplete understanding of the (g)(10) FHIR API and other Cures Act requirements can be detrimental to the EHR developers and the providers. In this blog, we bust these myths, shatter misconceptions, and guide you to ask the right questions.

With the Cures Act deadlines around the corner, the focus has been on “how” to meet the requirements, and not “why”. Let’s not forget that each one of us will be a patient at some point in our lives. When we are the patient, we want Health IT to work for us. We need access to our health data for that and Cures Act makes it possible. This personal experience will make that evident.

EHRs are feeling the heat of Cures Act requirements as the deadlines draw closer. Read on to find answers to burning questions that EHR developers and providers are faced with as they are trying to understand the implementation details of the (g)(10) FHIR API and its implications.

Over the last decade, billions of American taxpayer dollars have been spent to achieve “interoperability” in healthcare. Has it worked? The answer depends on who you ask. However, everyone agrees that we have a long way to go. Is FHIR® the answer to the interoperability conundrum?

As 2020 comes to a close, it is time to reflect back at the year. The COVID challenge we are faced with and drawing upon the lessons learned from it to remind everyone that regardless of the role you play in the healthcare ecosystem (patients, providers, payers, and Health IT vendors), come 2021, you need to start playing with FHIR.

After the 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule was announced, the healthcare IT marketplace has been inundated with solutions, all claiming to be able to meet or even exceed the compliance requirements. Unfortunately, there is no magic mirror available that can tell you which FHIR solution is the fairest choice for your organization. So, let’s start with some facts and follow a logical path to help you find a solution that not only meets your current needs, but aligns with your future requirements as well.

Updating the CCDAs might be the easiest way to share USCDI data and avoid the $1,000,000 penalty under information blocking regulation. However, it might not be the best way as Cures Act ultimately requires you to make the same data available through a FHIR® API. In this blog, we will drill a little deeper on how making this data available through a FHIR® API is a better long-term strategy than simply sharing an updated CCDA.

On October 29th, 2020, ONC announced an Interim Final Rule to extend compliance for some of the provisions including Information Blocking due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this blog, we discuss what changed in the Interim Final Rule, how it impacts providers and EHR vendors, and solutions for meeting the Information Blocking requirements.

Darena Solutions announced a new integration between their BlueButtonPRO™ solution and Microsoft® Azure API for FHIR. BlueButtonPRO is an end-to-end FHIR-based patient engagement platform to connect providers, payers, research organizations, registries and patients.

BlueButtonPRO™ by Darena Solutions becomes the nation’s first ONC certified solution for meeting 21st Century Cures Act requirements for EHR Vendors and Payers. BlueButtonPRO™ can be integrated with any EHR to meet the Cures Act requirements mandated by ONC for all EHR Vendors. It also meets and exceeds the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule requirements for payers.

There is a lot of confusion on what exactly the 21st Century Cures Act requires and includes. We help break down the law and demonstrate how we are helping our clients meet the requirements using Azure API for FHIR®.