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- CAP Supports Updated Information Blocking Rule, Asks for Flexibilities to Reduce Patient Harm
The CAP voiced its approval for the objectives in a draft federal information regulation to advance interoperability and support the exchange of electronic health information, on October 3. The CAP sent comments to the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ASTP) on ASTP’s HTI-2 Proposed Rule, supporting ASTP’s objectives to advance interoperability, improve transparency, and support the access, exchange, and use of electronic health information. The CAP cautioned that the promotion of interoperability, if done improperly, posed the risk of unintended regulatory consequences and patient harm.
The CAP’s comments included:
- Support for changes to the ASTP’s Health IT Certification Program designed to store authentication credentials to protect the confidentiality and integrity of their stored authentication credentials including updating the requirements in the “multi-factor authentication” (MFA) certification criterion.
- Support for updating the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) standard—a baseline set of data that can be commonly exchanged across care settings for a wide range of uses—in ASTP’s Health IT Certification Program by adding USCDI v4 and establishing an expiration date of January 1, 2028, for USCDI v3 for purposes of the Program. USCDI v4 is more closely aligned with CLIA requirements.
- Support for ASTP’s addition of the Laboratory Order Interface (LOI),/Laboratory Results Interface (LRI) to ASTP’s Health IT Certification Program. However, the CAP urged ASTP to proceed cautiously as implementing these standards too quickly may inflict burden on pathologists and laboratories.
- The CAP requested that for ASTP’s new certification requirements to support access, exchange, and use of diagnostic images via imaging links, pathology and clinical laboratory images be excluded from those requirements unless images are reported to the electronic health records.
- Support for information blocking enhancements updating two existing exceptions and establishing two new exceptions responding to concerns about patient privacy, care access, and electronic health information (EHI) sharing preferences.
The CAP is dedicated to helping ASTP avoid unintended consequences and patient harm in the rulemaking process.