By Micky Tripathi, William Gordon, Liz Turi, and Claire Kihn, ASTP/ONC
LinkedIn: Micky Tripathi
LinkedIn: Liz Turi, M.Eng, CPHIMS
LinkedIn: ASTP
Recognizing the importance of seamless data exchange in oncology, six health IT vendors have committed to supporting USCDI+ Cancer data elements (two more organizations pledged to promote cancer-related activities in their work), marking a significant step toward a more interoperable and standardized healthcare system. The White House announced these activities in March, 2024 to improve cancer care through enhanced utilization of EHR data, highlighting ASTP’s efforts around the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), USCDI+ Cancer program, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM). The goal of this work is to standardize essential cancer-related clinical data elements within EHRs to improve interoperability, care delivery, and outcomes.
The USCDI+ Cancer team initially focused on the EOM Use Case to demonstrate the ability to exchange cancer data leveraging established Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) application programming interface (API) based standards. Numerous groups from across government, industry, and care providers—including ASTP, CMS, and the HL7® minimal Clinical Oncology Data Elements (mCODE) group—came together to rapidly develop an Implementation Guide to support FHIR-based clinical and sociodemographic data submissions for EOM’s Performance Period 1 (PP1) in preparation for the reporting submission period ending October 31, 2024. For PP1, providers had the option of submitting required data elements via “low tech” or “high tech” methods. The “low tech” method reflects a more traditional chart abstraction-based reporting process, while the “high tech” method reflects automated submission via FHIR API. Two of the committed vendors successfully transmitted data on behalf a subset of their EOM-enrolled providers to CMS via FHIR API using mCODE and aligning with USCDI+ Cancer data elements. Early feedback from PP1 indicates continued expansion of providers leveraging the “high tech” method and vendors submitting via FHIR-based exchange for Performance Period 2.
This work highlights the critical importance of interagency and cross-sector collaboration when attempting to address the complexities of data standards and interoperability. The successful implementation of FHIR-based reporting for cancer data in EOM brings us closer to a more cohesive and effective healthcare system for cancer patients. Continued partnerships and commitment from all partners are essential as we strive to improve outcomes and deliver high-quality, patient-centered cancer care nationwide.
This article was originally published on the Health IT Buzz and is syndicated here with permission.