The committee encourages CMS to continue clarify and disseminate strategies that states can implement under current Medicaid and CHIP authority, or through waivers, to address SDOH. This should include guidance on how states can encourage and incentivize managed care organizations to address SDOH through contracts.

The Committee requests a report on efforts by CMS to ensure the transparency by Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) in the use of data of beneficiaries in addressing SDOH, how CMS ensures that MA and MCO plans notify beneficiaries of the use of protected or consumer (social, economic, behavioral) data, and how ongoing CMS work with MA and MCOs around SDOH and the use of consumer data and protected medical information aligns with and improves health equity. 

The Committee requests a briefing on the current utilization of Z codes, how HHS suggests the Z codes definitions could be updated to better track SDOH impacting underserved communities and recommendations on how to increase the utilization of Z codes. The committee also encourages HHS to update the current Z code definitions and establish a national standard to review SDOH to ensure physicians nationwide use the same tools to analyze SDOH.

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The agency received 331 total information blocking portal submissions, 306 of which were

possible claims of information blocking. Patients submitted most of the claims (194), but health IT developers also submitted a portion (21). 

Most of the claims were made against providers (241), but some also involved alleged blocking by Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL) Developer (44) and some by non-CHPL Developers (5).

(These figures are as of March 11, 2022. The webpage seems to be updated routinely.)

The 21st Century Cures Act authorizes the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate any claim of information blocking. The OIG was expected to release the final rule implementing the civil monetary penalties for information blocking in March 2022, but did not. 

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