Dive Brief:
- In order for patient data sharing and interoperability of electronic health records (EHRs) to improve, there needs to be an implementation of common standards, National Coordinator for Health IT and HHS Acting Assistant Secretary for Health Karen DeSalvo recently said at HHS' Office of the National Coordinator's (ONC) annual meeting, Healthcare IT News reports.
- Although ONC's goal regarding universal adoption of EHRs has almost been met, there remain challenges regarding interoperability, privacy, cybersecurity, common standards, and the creation of a business case for data sharing, DeSalvo added.
- An ONC survey released this week found most U.S. hospitals have adopted certified EHRs.
Consumers expect providers to share their health information for initiatives such as precision medicine, and that data should be available to them "when and where it matters,"DeSalvo said at the annual meeting, Health IT News reports.
The agency also released today a playbook intended to provide clinicians with the resources needed "to get the most out of their health IT and help patients put their electronic information to work to better manage their health,” ONC's CMO said in a statement.
ONC revealed the 2016 Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA), which provides guidance on current and emerging federal standards for national interoperability efforts.in December 2015.
Also, the High-Impact Pilot and the Standards Exploration Award (SEA) are two funding opportunities HHS announced last month aimed at developing better standards for data transfer.
In January, with the goal of increasing market transparency as part of a private and public sector campaign, ONC asked healthcare companies that use EHRs to make a pledge "to greater consumer access to medical records, to implement national standards and not to block data."
ONC plans to provide a listing of "plain language information" to help providers making health IT purchases, which contains user costs and data limitations. National standards for terms will help eliminate time and costs.