To comply with the information-blocking regulations required by the 21st Century Cures Act as of April 5, physicians now must be able to share information promptly with patients, physicians, and other covered entities upon request, with certain exceptions.
As with many new rules, however, compliance does not always go as smoothly as planned. The Texas Medical Association wants to hear from you to better understand the types of challenges you face with information-blocking compliance, including examples of:
- Scenarios in which the release of reports or notes without vital physician context or review with the patient could cause or has caused emotional or mental harm;
- Instances in which you tried to receive patient information from a hospital, physician, or other covered entity and you were denied access;
- Requests from patients that could not be fulfilled due to reasonable technology issues not resolved by your electronic health record (EHR) vendor or for which your vendor charged an exorbitant fee for an upgrade;
- Circumstances beyond your control that made it difficult to comply with information-blocking regulations; and
- Cases in which the prompt release of notes, lab results, imaging studies, or the like caused patients to take inappropriate actions because the patients misunderstood the information.
“While the information blocking regulations are largely helpful, some of the requirements and our EHR technology don’t always allow us to do what we need to do as responsible physicians,” says Joseph H. Schneider, MD, chair of TMA’s Committee on Health Information Technology.
If you have examples of the above situations or others you think TMA should know about, please fill out this form. Please DO NOT include any protected health information.
Send your questions about the information-blocking regulations to TMA’s Health Information Technology Department by calling (800) 880-5720 or via email. And visit TMA’s 21st Century Cures Act Resource Center.
Last Updated On
April 28, 2021
Originally Published On
April 28, 2021