Interoperability Rule, Information Blocking and Sharp Critiques from the Secretary

I had the pleasure of attending the ONC Annual Meeting in Washington, DC last week. We heard from Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, ONC Director Dr. Donald Berwick and many other leaders in the field of health information technology.

Of course, the news making comments were around the response from Secretary Azar to the efforts by Epic and others to oppose the interoperability rule and specifically the information blocking prohibitions within that rule. The mood of the room was definitely one of strong support for patient access to their medical data. Many speakers touched on the rights of patients to get their information and the audience cheered on many of these comments.

The breakout sessions also covered many valuable and timely topics with expertise and excellent questions abounding. I always enjoy the opportunity to connect with partners, clients, thought leaders and friends who work in this space and ONC gave another excellent opportunity to do just that.

If you didn’t have a chance to attend the event or watch the webinars of the plenary sessions live, they are available here: http://events.tvworldwide.com/Events/ONC-Annual-Meeting-2020/VideoId/-1/UseHtml5/True