HHS Withdraws Ambitious Health Data Interoperability Push
Published Date: 12/29/2025
Proposed Rule
Summary
The government is officially pulling back some health data rules they proposed last year, so those changes won’t happen for now. This affects healthcare tech companies, patients, and public health groups who were expecting new ways to share and protect health info. The withdrawal takes effect December 29, 2025, meaning no new costs or changes from these proposals will hit soon.
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 3 mixed.
Remaining HTI-2 Proposals Withdrawn
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is withdrawing all remaining non-finalized proposals from the HTI-2 Proposed Rule effective December 29, 2025. That means the changes those proposals would have made to health data, technology, and interoperability will not go into effect on that date.
USCDI v4 Adoption Not Finalized
ONC is withdrawing the proposal to adopt United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) version 4 and to set an expiration date for USCDI v3. The withdrawal means USCDI v4 will not be adopted through the HTI-2 proposals on December 29, 2025.
Encryption Standard Update Withdrawn
ONC is withdrawing the proposal to adopt the updated Annex A of FIPS 140-2 (Draft, October 12, 2021) and to add an expiration date of January 1, 2026 to the earlier FIPS 140-2 version. That change will not be finalized as part of HTI-2 on December 29, 2025.
Public Health Data Exchange Criteria Withdrawn
ONC is withdrawing proposed new certification criteria for public health data exchange, including birth reporting, bi-directional PDMP exchange, and a standardized FHIR-based public health API. Those certification additions will not take effect as part of HTI-2 on December 29, 2025.
API and Dynamic Registration Features Not Finalized
ONC is withdrawing proposals to add dynamic client registration, modular API capabilities, and new patient/provider/payer API certification criteria. These API- and app-focused proposals will not be finalized as part of HTI-2 on December 29, 2025.
Information-Blocking Exception Changes Withdrawn
ONC is withdrawing proposed changes related to information blocking, including a codified 'interference' section, a 'requestor preferences' exception, and clarifications to the infeasibility exception for responding to requests. Those proposed changes will not be finalized as part of HTI-2 on December 29, 2025.
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