Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: ONC Deregulatory Actions To Unleash Prosperity
Key claim: HHS is dropping or rewriting some of the federal certification rules that electronic health record software must meet, giving health IT companies and doctors fewer mandated features and less paperwork.
Abstract
(Rule · Health and Human Services Department) This final rule focuses on deregulatory actions identified in HHS regulations regarding health information technology standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria and regarding certification programs for health information technology. This final rule reduces burden, offers flexibility to both developers and providers, and supports innovation through the removal and revision of certain certification criteria and regulatory provisions.
Why this matters
ONC’s EHR certification criteria are the main federal lever determining which interoperability, data-export, and information-blocking features EHR software must support — and therefore what data rights patients and clinicians can rely on in practice. Rolling back or rewriting those criteria shifts obligations off of health IT vendors and providers, which can reduce compliance costs but may also narrow the guaranteed baseline of patient data access and portability in certified systems. The change arrives while Congress is separately debating bills to expand health data access and transparency, putting executive and legislative tracks in tension.