August 18, 2022
The Honorable Xavier Becerra
Secretary
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C., 20201
Dear Secretary Becerra:
The undersigned organizations representing stakeholders from across the healthcare community thank you for your work to advance health data exchange and interoperability.
We are diligently working towards full implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act Interoperability and Information Blocking Regulations, and to keep providers, patients, and other entities as well as individuals affected by information blocking informed about how the regulations will affect them and overall care delivery. Our organizations appreciate the resources created thus far by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Office of Inspector General (OIG). As we move closer to full implementation of the regulations on October 6, 2022—when covered actors will be required to share the full scope of electronic health information (EHI) in most circumstances—we are increasingly concerned about the complexity as well as the lack of a clear and consistent understanding of the information blocking regulations across the community.