HHS announces immediate enforcement of information‑blocking rule, warns vendors of fines and program exclusion

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said the department will immediately begin enforcing federal information‑blocking rules and urged patients to report suspected violations through the Health IT report portal at healthit.gov.

Kennedy said the information‑blocking provisions derive from the 21st Century Cures Act and related implementing rules finalized in 2020. He said HHS has received complaints about information blocking and that the department until now had not been enforcing the rule at scale.

"This is wrong and it's illegal," Kennedy said. "Patients should be able to access their health care information on their phones or computers. They should be able to share that information with their doctors, their hospitals, researchers of their choice, and trusted relatives. After all, it's your data, and you should be in control of your information."

Kennedy told listeners that any health care provider, electronic health record vendor, or data network that blocks information could face "millions of dollars in penalties in addition to removal from government programs." He said the HHS Office of Inspector General and the department's Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy would send a joint alert letter notifying stakeholders that the policy is effective immediately and asking stakeholders to comply.

He emphasized the clinical rationale for access, saying emergency department clinicians need timely access to patients' medication lists, blood types, allergies and prior diagnoses to provide appropriate care. "When a patient visits an emergency room, doctors need to access that patient's medical history," he said.

Kennedy directed individuals who believe they have experienced information blocking to report it through the report information blocking portal on healthit.gov. He said the Office of Inspector General would take action on complaints received.

The statement did not announce a new regulation or a specific enforcement process timeline beyond the joint alert letter; it described enforcement as beginning immediately and described potential penalties but did not specify thresholds, timelines for investigations, or exact penalty amounts beyond the phrase "millions of dollars."