By Sarah Jane Tribble – Tory Starr is worried about the people who get medical care at Open Door Community Health Centers along California’s North Coast. “They’re the folks that work at restaurants. They’re the teacher’s aides,” said Starr, a registered nurse who became Open Door’s chief executive more than six years ago. Those patients, he said, are “really the heart and soul of rural America.”
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The EHIgnite Challenge is a national ASTP/ONC innovation competition offering $490,000 to spark new innovation for tools that will export EHI into usable insights for patients, clinicians, and payers. Phase 1 NOW EXTENDED to May 20. Winners are invited to Phase 2.
By Hitesh Agarwal – For decades, healthcare conferences, whitepapers, and vendors have talked about the same thing: interoperability. However, the reality never changed: patient information remained locked away and hard to move. But that window is finally closing.
On April 8, CMS updated its Quality Payment Program Participation Status Tool based on the fourth snapshot of Alternative Payment Model data. The fourth snapshot includes data from Medicare Part B claims with dates of service between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025.
By Shannon Bond – Information blocking may be old news, but its enforcement is not. On September 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would be increasing resources to investigate and enforce information blocking compliance.
CMS has released the 2026 CMS Interoperability Standards and Prior Authorization for Drugs proposed rule (CMS-0062-P), continuing its efforts to improve electronic prior authorization so patients and providers can benefit from a more expeditious, transparent and reliable process.
CMS is extending the initial application deadline to May 15, 2026, so that more organizations can participate in ACCESS when it launches on July 5, 2026; Medicare enrollment is required for participation but not to apply.
By Daniel Caños PhD MPH & Michelle Tarver MD PhD – Today’s health care ecosystem is generating richer and more diverse data streams, providing new opportunities to modernize how Real-World Data generates relevant and reliable Real-World Evidence. The FDA is working to provide clearer recommendations and more consistent acceptance of RWE as valid scientific evidence.
Expanding nutrition services and strengthening the rural workforce will improve access to care, enhance preventive services, and reduce the burden of chronic disease.