Portrait of Steven Posnack

The 2019 Interoperability Standards Advisory Reference Edition is Now Available

Steven Posnack | January 14, 2019

Get your 2019 off to a start with new and updated standards! Since the 2018 comment period on the Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) closed on October 1, we combed through all your comments and made improvements based on your suggestions.
If you’re new to the ISA, you will find it contains a variety of standards and implementation specifications curated by developers, standards gurus, and other stakeholders to meet interoperability needs (a term we use in the ISA to represent the purpose for use of standards or implementation specifications – similar to a use case) in healthcare.

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Portrait of Chris Muir

App Challenge Winner Docket to Add Immunization Data for Individuals

Chris Muir | January 9, 2019

The first in an occasional series of “Where are they now?” posts about past ONC Challenge winners
It’s been a little more than a year since the Docket app won the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) Move Health Data Forward (MHDF) Challenge, focused on helping consumers consolidate and share their health data. At a recent check in with the Docket team, ONC learned that Docket is continuing to improve patient access by adding new functionality that will allow consumers to access their personal and family immunization records.

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Portrait of Andrew Gettinger

Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs: Released for Public Comment

Andrew Gettinger | November 28, 2018

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a draft Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs for public comment. This work, led by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), was required by Congress under the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act).

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Portrait of Lisa Lewis Person

Caring for our loved ones with Health IT: Celebrating National Caregivers Month

Lisa Lewis Person | November 15, 2018

This blog is written to honor all of the caregivers who give tirelessly of themselves for a loved one and often feel left alone to navigate the healthcare system. I want you to know you are not alone. We in ONC stand with you both professionally and personally as we dedicate our efforts to improving the health and well-being of individuals and communities through the use of technology and health information that is accessible when and where it matters most.

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Portrait of Don Rucker

Acute Care Hospitals Are More Interoperable Than Ever but Challenges Remain

Don Rucker | October 25, 2018

Today, nearly all non-federal acute care hospitals have adopted certified health IT. New data show that this momentum continues with the introduction of the 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria (2015 Edition), which includes new technical capabilities (such as application programming interfaces) that were not required as part of the prior 2014 Edition. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) analysis of 2017 data from the American Hospital Association’s Information Technology Supplement Survey reveals that 93 percent of non-federal acute care hospitals have already upgraded to the 2015 Edition or plan to upgrade.

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