Providers, vendors both to blame for information blocking

Most information blocking in healthcare is "beyond the current reach" of federal agencies to detect, investigate and address, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's report to Congress published Friday.

The report, mandated by Congress last December upon passage of the 2015 omnibus appropriations bill, reveals that efforts to stymie information blocking have been ineffective to date. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), last summer, blasted the lack of EHR interoperability in a congressional hearing, specifically calling out Verona, Wisconsin-based Epic Systems as a creator of closed platforms...

...National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo and Jodi Daniel, ONC's director of policy and planning, charge that such practices "devalue taxpayer investments in health IT," in a Health IT Buzz blog post on the report. They say the "full extent" of the issue is hard to determine due to factors that include contractual restrictions that prevent providers "from reporting or even discussing costs."...