Health IT, Hospitals, Policy

ONC wants full interoperability by 2017

The ONC today released an ambitious plan to achieve the promising but so far elusive […]

The ONC today released an ambitious plan to achieve the promising but so far elusive concept of interoperability, creating a draft road map that sets a goal of 2017 for true and effective data exchange across the healthcare system.

The draft was designed in tandem with the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan for 2015 through 2020 and includes a “core set of building blocks” needed to achieve the lofty vision. They include:

— Establishing core technical standards and functions;
— Certification to support adoption and optimization of health IT products and services;
— Privacy and security protections for health information;
— Supportive business, clinical, cultural, and regulatory environments;
— Rules of engagement and governance.

The ONC, part of HHS, is currently accepting feedback from key stakeholders over the next 60 days on those standards. A number of trade groups and government agencies support the effort, including CHIME, the Department of Defense and the eHealth Initiative.

“While we have made great strides as a nation to improve EHR adoption, we must pivot towards true interoperability based on clear, defined and enforceable standards,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell. “This Roadmap incorporates a tremendous amount of stakeholder input and articulates a clear path towards interoperability. It is a cornerstone in the continuing evolution of federal health IT policymaking.”

Officials with HHS linked today’s announcement with Pres. Obama’s recent Precision Medicine effort that is aimed at developing new treatments in healthcare to improve health outcomes. Related to that is how providers are paid, improving and innovating care, and “sharing information more broadly to providers, consumers, and other to support better decisions while maintaining privacy,” HHS said in an announcement.

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