HHS Announces Crackdown on Information Blocking in Healthcare
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced it will start cracking down on healthcare entities that engage in information blocking. On September 3, 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the HHS to increase resources dedicated to the enforcement of the health data information blocking provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act. The 21st Century Cures Act of 2016 established penalties, termed disincentives, for healthcare entities that engage in information blocking practices, which is “any practice that interferes with, prevents, or materially discourages access, exchange, or use of electronic health information.”
The disincentive for information blocking by developers of certified health IT, Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), and Health Information Networks (HINs) is a civil monetary penalty of up to $1 million, which took effect on September 1, 2023. Developers with products certified under the ONC Health IT Certification Program could have their certifications terminated and be banned from the Certification Program.
In 2023, the HHS proposed a rule that established a range of disincentives for healthcare providers determined by the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) to have engaged in information blocking practices. Those disincentives took effect on July 31, 2024, with the exception of the penalties for ACO participants, which became effective on January 1, 2025.
Those disincentives include:
- The denial of eligibility to hospitals or critical access hospitals (CAHs) as meaningful electronic health record (EHR) users in an applicable EHR reporting period, resulting in the loss of 75 percent of the annual market basket increase, and a reduction in Medicare payments to CAHs to 100 percent of reasonable costs rather than 101 percent. The amount of the disincentive would be dependent on a hospital’s Medicare payments. The HHS previously calculated the median disincentive amount to be $394,353.
- Information blocking by eligible clinicians would result in them losing eligibility as meaningful users of certified EHR technology in a performance period, resulting in a zero score under Medicare’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) payments to physicians.
- Providers or suppliers that are Accountable Care Organization (ACO) participants would be ineligible to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program for a period of at least one year.
In a September 3, 2025, press release, the HHS said it will be cracking down on information blocking, whereby patients’ engagements in their care are restricted by the blocking of access, exchange, and use of electronic health information. The HHS said information blocking was not a priority for the Biden administration, but it is a priority under President Trump and Secretary Kennedy.
“Patients must have unfettered access to their health information as guaranteed by law. Providers and certain health IT entities have a legal duty to ensure that information flows where and when it’s needed,” said Acting Inspector General Juliet T. Hodgkins. “HHS-OIG will deploy all available authorities to investigate and hold violators accountable. We are committed to enforcing the law and protecting patients’ access to health information.”
Empowering individuals to take control of their health is a key element of Secretary Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again promise, which requires them to have easy access to their electronic health information, either through zero-cost access through their healthcare providers or their chosen health apps. Access to health information allows patients to monitor chronic conditions, adhere to treatment plans, track progress in wellness and disease management plans, and find errors in their health records.
“We have already begun reviewing reports of information blocking against developers of certified health IT under the ONC Health IT Certification Program and are providing technical assistance to our colleagues at OIG for investigations,” said Tom Keane, MD, Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The HHS is encouraging patients and innovators who have experienced or observed information blocking to report it through the ASTP/ONC Report Information Blocking Portal.
