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- CAP Opposes Information Blocking Penalties on Physicians through CMS Pay Programs
The CAP has opposed new monetary penalties proposed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for physicians failing to comply with rules prohibiting information blocking. These penalties would be levied through CMS payment programs such as the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program and may have the unfair consequence of one provider being penalized for another provider’s actions.
This proposed rule implements the part of the 21st Century Cures Act stating that a health care provider who commits information blocking— behavior that is likely to interfere with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI)—will be subject to appropriate disincentives.
The rule seeks to use specific CMS payment programs to impose penalties on physicians accused of committing information blocking. If a provider does not participate in those specific CMS payment programs, there are no regulations currently in place to penalize them for committing information blocking.
On January 2, the CAP submitted a comment letter to the ONC and CMS outlining the following requests:
- Reduce potential patient harm and improve care coordination by allowing for greater flexibility and more expansive use of the legal exceptions to the information blocking regulations.
- Delay implementing disincentives on providers until there is a guaranteed appeals process for providers.
- Delay implementing penalties on providers through the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, as these penalties may have the unfair consequence of one provider being penalized for another provider’s actions.
The CAP is opposing these penalties because the ONC and CMS continue to make the payment program more complex. Most CAP members should not be affected by this proposed rule, but it could impact pathologists eventually.