On today’s World Health Day, I’d like to give you an inside look at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) global health IT work. Advancing digital health (or e-health) is gaining worldwide momentum as nations seek to leverage health IT. While each country and jurisdiction has a different approach to healthcare, global digital health advancements are becoming a common thread across the world.

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During National Kidney Month, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) joins communities across the country to raise awareness about kidney disease and to highlight our efforts to support patients through research. In particular, ONC is collaborating with the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) to enhance data infrastructure for patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) through a project advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning called Training Data for Machine Learning to Enhance PCOR Data Infrastructure (the PCOR Machine Learning Project).

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The accelerated use of health IT has led to exponential growth in the amount and availability of electronic health data. Despite this progress, certain research and scientific breakthroughs may remain slow due to difficulties with health IT infrastructure and the lack of high quality health data. To better understand and address these challenges, ONC led the development of National Health IT Priorities for Research: A Policy and Development Agenda, which articulates a vision where research can happen more quickly and effectively.

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Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a comprehensive strategy to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden related to the use of health IT, including EHRs. Reflective of public comment, the Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burdens Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs targets burdens tied to regulatory and administrative requirements that HHS can directly impact through the rulemaking process. The report’s strategies, recommendations, and policy shifts aim to give clinicians more time to focus on what matters – caring for their patients.

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More than 1,200 stakeholders gathered this year in Washington, DC for the ONC’s 10th Annual Meeting, Connecting Policy and Technology: Bringing the EHR to the Patient. Among many other health IT topics, attendees discussed patients’ access to health information and privacy considerations, health care cost transparency, and the latest updates to health IT standards. If you were not able to join us in DC, you can view the webcast.

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