Electronic health record (EHR) information blocking is an attempt by an EHR company or health care provider/organizaton to prevent legitimate exchange of health information.
Criteria for information blocking:
(1) legitimate request for information
(2) request made properly
(3) complete or partial refusal to provide the information (unreasonably interferes with request)
(4) done knowingly
Refusal may:
(1) be outright or masked
(2) take the form of an excuse related to a regulatory barrier, such as HIPAA
(3) involve sending corrupted or unreadable data
(4) involve sending incomplete information
(5) involve an excessive charge for access
Reasons for information blocking:
(1) afraid of losing power or control
(2) trying to hide something
(3) increase revenue
Pseudo-blocking:
(1) not a legal request
(2) information does not exist
(3) request made improperly
