Does immediate result release via APIs conflict with the "preventing harm" information blocking exclusion?

[maloykr]

In the scenario described on page 394 of a positive pregnancy test and a patient who is at risk of domestic abuse, the reference implies an embargo of test results so that the “clinician thus chooses not to release the test result electronically.” This presupposes that there is some blanket time embargo of results, which is prohibited in the MIPS Final Rule (by my read).

The MIPS Final Rule (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/11/04/2016-25240/medicare-program-merit-based-incentive-payment-system-mips-and-alternative-payment-model-apm#h-42) addresses “whether it would be permissible for a health care provider to restrict access to a patient's sensitive test results until the clinician who ordered the tests, or another designated health care professional, has had an opportunity to review and appropriately communicate the results to the patient.” The conclusion in that Final Rule (as I read it) is that a blanket policy against immediate release results might be considered information blocking.

In the scenario described in the proposed rule, the provider would have to redact the test. However, while the test result is available (as per MIPS), a push notification might be sent to her partner as her partner is stated to have “been given access to view her test results.”

Not sure how to resolve the scenario when it seems like delayed release of results would be datablocking.