The AAMC and other health care organizations March 27 sent a joint letter requesting the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) extend the comment period at a minimum for 30 days for the proposed federal rules regarding interoperability and information blocking to allow more adequate time for thoughtful analysis for the proposed rules and its impacts.
In the letter, the organizations expressed appreciation for the release of the rules and wrote that the proposed rules are, “comprehensive, detailed, and inter-twined” and contain “provisions with far-reaching implications for virtually all stakeholders in our healthcare system.”
The ONC and CMS rules were released in February and were designed to enable information sharing for patients when moving between providers and health plans [see Washington Highlights, Feb. 15]. The ONC and CMS worked collaboratively on these proposed rules to advance interoperability.