Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Question: We’re concerned about the 21st Century Cures Act deadlines that were extended during the pandemic but may now be coming due. Is there a recent update that we’ve missed that gives another extension?

New Hampshire Subscriber

Answer: No. Despite industry organizations urging the feds to extend the implementation timeline, the first compliance date has not been altered for some standards and stands at April 5.

Refresher: In May 2020, the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published a final rule in the Federal Register that followed through on long-promised changes to health IT, interoperability, and information blocking, mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act. That final rule carried a compliance due date of Nov. 2, 2020.

Next: In October 2020, ONC announced an extension in an effort to ease providers’ implementation burden during the COVID-19 pandemic. ONC “released an interim final rule with comment period that extends the compliance dates and timeframes necessary to meet certain requirements related to information blocking and Conditions and Maintenance of Certification (CoC/MoC) requirements,” an HHS release said of the interim final rule published in the Federal Register.

Now: Although there’s no news delaying the April 5 start date for requirements related to information blocking, remember that the ONC has stated that there will be no enforcement action of civil monetary penalties until “established by future notice and comment rulemaking by Office of Inspector General (OIG),” according to the May 1, 2020 Federal Register 21st Century Cures Act final rule.