The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today released a final rule that establishes disincentives for health care providers that have committed information blocking. This final rule exercises the Secretary’s authority under the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) to establish “disincentives” for health care providers who engage in practices that the health care providers knew were unreasonable and were likely to interfere with, prevent, or materially discourage the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI), except as required by law or covered by a regulatory exception.

As part of ONC’s annual Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP), we’re excited to announce the Approved Standards for 2024 (2024 SVAP standards). The SVAP is designed to support industry interoperability needs by adding new standards to be used in the ONC Health IT Certification Program (Certification Program). The 2024 SVAP standards reflect feedback from federal, state, and industry partners over a four-month public comment period. Beginning August 19, 2024, health IT developers participating in the Certification Program can voluntarily incorporate the 2024 SVAP Standards into their Certified Health IT Modules.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology was born two decades ago, tasked with creating an interoperable health IT infrastructure and shifting the country away from paper medical records. Much has changed since then. The vast majority of hospitals and physicians now use electronic health records. Nationwide health data exchange under the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA, went live in December, after years of work. And now, artificial intelligence-enabled tools — including products that aim to cut down on providers’ administrative tasks — signal more change ahead for the industry. Late last year, the ONC finalized a sweeping rule that included transparency requirements for certified clinical decision support and predictive tools. Micky Tripathi, head of the ONC, sat down with Healthcare Dive to discuss the past 20 years and how the agency’s work aims to create the foundation for the next generation of healthcare technology.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has its sights set on advancing health equity through “Health Equity By Design” and U.S. Core Data Interoperability standards to ensure that everyone has fair and equal access to the highest quality of health care regardless of race, gender, disability, location and a host of other factors. Artificial intelligence is also playing a pivotal role in helping agencies achieve national health goals. Recently appointed acting chief AI officer of the Department of Health and Human Services, Tripathi said AI is helping to close health equity gaps when it comes to analytics, determining patient demographics and informing decision-making for treating patients. Tripathi also highlighted ONC’s collaborative efforts with the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) and other agencies that are improving interoperability and the integration of public health data.

A new Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) brief explores advancements in electronic health record (EHR) interoperability across US hospitals and physicians, highlighting both progress and areas for continued focus. ONC has tracked progress in healthcare data exchange since 2014. The data shows a substantial increase in hospitals’ ability to electronically find, send, receive, and integrate patient health information. In 2023, 70% of hospitals reported “sometimes” or “often” engaging in all four domains of interoperability, compared to just 23% in 2014.