Dennis A. Sapien-Pangindian, Senior Counsel in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s New York office, was quoted in Part B News, in “Info Blocking ‘Disincentives’ Rule Brings Penalties; Data-Sharing Adjustments Needed,” by Roy Edroso. (Read the full version – subscription required)
Following is an excerpt:
Against loud protests from medical organizations, HHS has finalized strong “disincentives” — that is, financial punishments — for providers who commit what OIG, the designated overseer, determines to be information blocking. …
Exceptions move the rule
Dennis A. Sapien-Pangindian, senior counsel with Epstein Becker & Green in New York City and a former counsel to OIG, sees the issue but reminds providers they also have some protections.
For one thing, the 2023 OIG rule said that to rise to information blocking, actions or failures to act must be “with intent” — that is, “OIG has to show that a provider actually knows that a practice is unreasonable and likely to interfere with access or exchange or use of PHI, [rather than that they] should have known, which is a much lower standard,” Sapien-Pangindian says. “The biggest risk for providers is going to be either actual bad intent in leadership in their company, or rogue actors within their practice group trying to engage information blocking for anti-competitive purposes” — for example, trying to keep patients from leaving for other practices.
