Health Innovation Alliance to HHS: Rescind, Rework, and Reissue Proposed Information Blocking Rule

Leaders in the fight against information blocking say proposed rule will "create a market worse than today's status quo" 


WASHINGTON, DC (June 3, 2019): Health Innovation Alliance formally called on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to rescind its proposed rule, "21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program," in comments submitted to the administration today. 

While Health Innovation Alliance has been one of the foremost leaders in the years-long fight to combat harmful information blocking practices, it warns that exceptions to the proposed rule are so vague that "they will produce a market worse than today's status quo." The coalition further explains that the rule extends beyond the scope of the 21st Century Cures Act and runs counter to Congressional intent by granting ONC unprecedented new regulatory authority.

It concludes that the rule "should be rescinded by HHS, reviewed, and divided into appropriately targeted rules so that the administration can revise the proposals and fashion new rules that promote innovation and eliminate information blocking consistent with Congressional intent." 

Similarly, HIA submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today on the accompanying interoperability proposed rule which calls for the proposal to "be clarified and implementation timelines adjusted, so that payers and other actors can meaningfully accommodate the new requirements." 

HIA's correspondence follows a series of Congressional meetings and media blitz drawing attention to core flaws in the proposed rules, which netted coverage in Modern Healthcare, Inside Health Policy, Politico, MedPage Today, and others. 

  • Read HIA's letter to HHS here.

  • Read HIA's letter to CMS here.  

  • See a timeline of HIA's most recent information blocking advocacy efforts here.

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About Health Innovation Alliance:
We are patient groups, provider organizations, employers, insurers, and startup innovators
committed to transforming healthcare. The Health Innovation Alliance (formerly Health IT Now)
exists to improve healthcare by advancing healthcare connectivity, unlocking the abundance of
useful data in our healthcare system, modernizing data privacy, and fundamentally redefining
care delivery. Learn more at Health-Innovation.org.