HTI-3 final rule updates information blocking exceptions

Privacy exception revisions

The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) expanded the application of the "sub-exception" designed to cover actors' choice to restrict the sharing of an individual's electronic health information (EHI) at the individual's request.

In particular, the final rule removes a limitation to individual-requested restrictions that was contingent on whether another law required the EHI be accessed, exchanged or used. Notably, the revised sub-exception does not override other laws compelling disclosure of EHI against the individual's wishes.

Infeasibility exception revisions

The HTI-3 final rule finalizes changes to the segmentation condition as proposed in the Patient Engagement, Information Sharing and Public Health Interoperability (HTI-2) proposed rule. The segmentation condition applies where an actor cannot unambiguously segment certain EHI that may be withheld under other exceptions from EHI that could be shared.

The updates maintain the prior applicability of the segmentation condition while expanding the segmentation condition to specifically cover all the sub-exceptions under the privacy exception and the new "protecting care access" information blocking exception.

Protecting care access exception

The protecting care access exception allows actors to, if they choose, restrict health information exchange in certain circumstances where the restrictions could reduce the risk of exposing persons to legal action simply because they were involved in care that was lawful in the circumstances it was furnished. This applies to persons who seek, obtain, provide or facilitate reproductive healthcare as defined above.

The exception also applies where an actor limits the sharing of a patient's EHI potentially related to reproductive healthcare to protect that patient from possible legal action.

For the exception to apply, an actor must act based on a good faith belief that persons seeking, obtaining, providing or facilitating reproductive healthcare are at risk of being exposed to legal action as a result of sharing specific EHI.

Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.