Welcome to the Health IT Buzz Blog
Learn more about HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
Health IT, Health IT Certification Achieving a Major Milestone: Health IT Developers Certify to Cures Update
Robert Anthony | February 10, 2023
ONC is delighted to report that on December 31, 2022, the health IT community passed a major milestone on the road to improving health IT interoperability. More than 95 percent of Certified Health IT developers met the compliance deadline to update and provide their customers with new technology including requirements to enable access to information through application programming interfaces (APIs) “without special effort.”
Read Full Post.
Health Data Flipping the Script: Leveraging EHR Data to Inform Clinical Burden Reduction Approaches
Chelsea Richwine | February 6, 2023
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a strategy to reduce regulatory and administrative burden relating to the use of health IT, including electronic health record (EHR) systems. Key burden reduction goals addressed in the report include reducing the amount of time and effort required to record information in EHRs to meet regulatory requirements and improving the usability of EHRs.
Read Full Post.
Inside ONC ONC Staff Profile: Athena Curtiss – Budget as Public Health
Athena Curtiss | January 23, 2023
As the team lead for budget formulation, Athena Curtiss works in the office of the chief operating officer, financial and human capital division, which is responsible for the formulation and execution of ONC’s budget.
Read Full Post.
Health Data Evidence on the Growing Use of Health IT to Address the Opioid Epidemic
Chelsea Richwine | January 19, 2023
In the midst of a growing drug overdose crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, clinicians’ use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) and electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) technology is critical to improving opioid prescribing practices, informing treatment decisions, and supporting safe and effective patient care. Recent efforts, such as mandating use of EPCS technology and integrating PDMPs into electronic health record (EHR) systems, aim to improve prescribing practices by increasing the utility of information contained in PDMPs and decreasing prescription diversion and doctor shopping.
Read Full Post.
Health IT ONC’s Health Information Technology Advisory Committee: 2022 Recap and a Look Ahead to 2023
Mike Berry | January 19, 2023
The Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) plays an important role in ONC activities and objectives. Required by the 21st Century Cures Act, the HITAC has been operational since 2018 and represents a wide range of experts in health IT who inform ONC’s policies and programs.
Read Full Post.