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HHS on Friday acknowledged that electronic health records pose a significant burden on clinicians and suggested tactics the federal government can pursue to ease the pain. The strategy, published by the CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, was mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act. The agencies have been working on the strategy since mid-2017. A draft strategy was released in late 2018 and elicited more than 200 comments from the public. (Castellucci, 2/21)

HHS leaders in recent weeks have had harsh words for critics of two landmark—and controversial—proposals to regulate health data. That charged language signals the Trump administration’s commitment to finalized rules on interoperability and data blocking coming down the pike, said Dr. David Brailer, chairman of the healthcare education firm Health Evolution and former head of HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The ONC and the CMS released their companion proposals last February but have yet to publish final versions. (Cohen, 2/22)