Half of electronic health record (EHR) vendors and a quarter of hospitals and health systems routinely engage in information blocking that restricts data flow between providers with different EHRs, according to officials of public health information exchanges (HIEs) surveyed by researchers at the University of Michigan.

The top motivation for EHR developers was revenue maximization, whereas the hospital systems were mainly motivated by a desire to maintain or enhance their competitive position, the authors state. The study was published online March 7 in the Milbank Quarterly.

In a report issued 2 years ago, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) said there was anecdotal evidence showing that some health information technology (IT) developers and healthcare providers…

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