HHS-OIG announced their final decision on information blocking penalties. Any individual or entity that has committed information blocking will be subject up to a $1 million dollar penalty per violation.
So what is information blocking? Per the HealthIt.gov website, information blocking is a practice by an "actor" that is likely to interfere with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI), except as required by law or specified in an information blocking exception. You can read more details on Healthit.gov.
Criterions’ new FHIR standard APIs can ensure your practice provides adequate access to patient health records. Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, or FHIR, is an interoperability rule that enables on-demand information exchange of clinical records among providers and data systems. FHIR was created by the Health Level Seven International healthcare standards organization (HL7) specifically for healthcare organizations.
FHIR builds on previous data format standards like HL7, but it is easier to implement because it uses a modern web-based suite of API technology. FHIR makes it easy to provide healthcare information to healthcare providers and individuals on a wide variety of devices including computers, tablets, and cell phones. It also allows third-party application developers to provide medical applications which can be easily integrated into existing systems.