Information blocking pertains to activities that interfere with patient and clinician access to electronic health records. Heidi’s Notes Feature can help you:
Build a single, unified source of truth for every consult, from transcripts, dictation, and contextual notes including uploaded files and text. All specialized documents then draw from that central record
Structure your notes with nested lists, indentation levels, and formatting (bold, italics)
Organize your note content using drag-and-drop
In this article, we will discuss the significance of information blocking in healthcare, its key elements, the regulations and penalties related to it, and its impact to clinicians and care delivery.
The Significance of Information Blocking in Healthcare
Information blocking presents a threat to patient care, increases costs, and exacerbates outcomes by preventing timely access to electronic health records (EHRs). This can lead to misdiagnoses, duplicate tests, and the undermining of patient choice and engagement.
Therefore, it is important for care providers and health IT teams to work together to design policies and ensure practices that are safe, interoperable, and don’t restrict the flow of data for patients.
Clinicians were still left working through fragmented systems and heavy documentation loads despite regulations. This was the case with San Luis Valley Health Medical Center (SLVRMC).
The team serves rural communities in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico and struggles with heavy documentation burden and burnout, leading providers to often stay up late finishing notes.
After trying Heidi, clinicians completed same-day documentation more efficiently and dramatically reduced brain drain. “I switched to 20-minute appointments instead of 30 and I’ve definitely added more access for patients,” shares Laticia Hollingsworth, PA-C.
Key Elements of Healthcare Information Blocking
The blocking of healthcare information centers on activity and behavior that limit the movement of essential clinical information that moves between systems and care teams. These include withholding records, setting up processes that make access more difficult and creating delays.
Information Blocking Regulations
Global authorities then responded to information blocking through the creation of regulations seeking to penalize delays.
In the US, the ONC (Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT) supports seamless and secure access, exchange, and use of electronic health information with the Cures Act Final Rule. The HHS-OIG (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General) established the statutory penalties created by the 21st Century Cures Act.
Meanwhile, the British healthcare system has a framework provided by the General Medical Council (GMC) for disclosing patient information. This framework puts a great emphasis on confidentiality. It also states that data should not be shared without explicit patient consent, except when required by law or in the public interest.
Furthermore, Australia’s primary mechanism for managing health information is the My Health Record system, which is managed under the Privacy Act principles and Australian Privacy Principles. It is considered a national digital health summary.
Information Blocking Penalties
The United States Cures Act enforces strict penalties for information blocking; this started two years ago. Violators face monetary penalties as high as 1 million USD for every violation, while providers will receive program-based disincentives such as reduced Medicare payments or quality program impacts.
In the UK, organizations that improperly restrict access can face fines up to 17.5 million GBP or 4% of global turnover. For instance, some NHS (National Health Service) trusts and private providers have failed in the past to provide patient record access and were fined.
Meanwhile, penalties fall under the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles in Australia. Serious breaches trigger civil penalties, enforceable undertakings, and compensation orders. Recent reforms increased maximum penalties for serious privacy breaches, reinforcing expectations for responsible data sharing across health systems.
Information Blocking Exceptions
The exceptions in the US are for the necessities of harm prevention, protection of individual privacy rights, infeasibility under health/IT law, fees, and licensing. For the UK, the exceptions are for balancing privacy, consent, public safety, and legal obligations.
Lastly, exceptions in Australia are made for consent-based sharing if another law authorizes or requires the sharing (for example, public health reporting obligations or legal disclosures) and is necessary to deliver a service directly to the individual.
Regulations that govern global healthcare information sharing seek to promote ways to improve healthcare quality, communication, and satisfaction. When these regulations are not followed, different care stakeholders, from patients to clinicians, immediately feel its impact.
Delayed Care
Clinicians will lack much-needed information to help their patients. For example, a neurologist reviews a patient who has a new focal weakness, and their MRI result has not been shared as it has been held in the ordering system. The clinicians will either be forced to make decisions without key findings or delay a decision due to the lack of information.
The Ask Heidi feature fills this gap by quickly gathering and synthesizing clinical information from trusted sources. This streamlines access to protocols, contraindications, and referral letters.
Disrupts Handover
The lack of interoperability disrupts clinician workflow.
For instance, an emergency physician stabilizes a patient and writes a note, but the structured medication list is not visible to inpatient teams. The result is duplicated documentation and treatment delays, forcing the healthcare staff to do time-consuming manual workarounds which can lead to potential errors. As a result, the staff experiences increased burnout.
One common pain point that clinicians have is the cognitive load they have to deal with. Notes pile at the end of shifts. As a result, clinicians spend time after work hours compiling and organizing them, leaving them tired and unable to spend time with their loved ones.
Heidi Templates can create templates from scratch and existing notes. These can also be customized to fulfill any needs that you might have when it comes to documentation.
How Heidi Helps Clinicians Reduce Information Blocking Risk
When crucial information is delayed or blocked, the patient and clinician carry the burden. Heidi takes the weight off clinicians’ shoulders through the following:
Providing consistent documentation: Heidi’s Notes feature has access for 200+ specialty-specific community templates so that you can easily follow documentation standards.
Reducing cognitive load: Heidi uses AI to transcribe and structure patient conversations into clinical notes and documents in real-time. This frees up mental energy and time, allowing the clinician to focus more on patient interaction.
Supporting clinician judgement: Heidi produces drafted notes that the clinician reviews, edits, and approves before entering them into the medical record. This keeps clinical judgment where it belongs: clinicians like you, ensuring full responsibility and control stay in your hands.
When records are complete and easy to share, clinicians meet regulatory expectations without adding extra work while patients enjoy the benefits through clearer communication and smoother handovers.
Heidi supports that standard. Thus, clinicians stay focused on patients, and organizations stay aligned with the rules that protect them.
An example of data blocking would be the implementation of hefty fees required for providing digital records or creating a patient portal interface. Patients often encounter this form of information blocking.
What is the most important information blocking rule?
The most important information blocking rule is the 21st Century Cures Act in the United States. It prevents unreasonable interference with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information. Providers are required to share data with other clinicians or patients unless a defined exception applies, while failure to meet these requirements can lead to penalties.
Why is health information blocking one of the biggest issues facing healthcare right now?
Health information blocking is one of the biggest issues in healthcare right now because it is a direct threat to patient care and safety. This is also because hospitals and health systems remain attractive targets for cyberattacks since they hold large volumes of personally identifiable information and protected health information.
Recent research identified more than 180 confirmed ransomware attacks on healthcare providers last year, with an average ransom payment of about $900,000.
