Health Information Exchange: From Standards to Practice

By David Muntz, MBA / Principal Deputy National Coordinator for Health IT

The recent release of the Stage 2 Meaningful Use final rule includes an important requirement: Health care providers should be able to exchange information electronically using his or her electronic health record (EHR). By 2014, a provider attesting to Meaningful Use Stage 2 should be able use their EHR to share an electronic copy of a care summary and relevant documentation with another provider, regardless of which vendor produced the EHR that either is using. In addition, patients should be able to view, download, and transmit their personal health information from an EHR to a personally controlled health record or another provider.

Health Information Exchange Standards

In order to make this type of interoperable health information exchange possible, the health IT community needs a core set of standards and specifications that enable EHRs to communicate seamlessly. Recognizing this need, ONC has been diligently working to ensure that the health information exchange standards for vocabulary, message packaging, and message transport are available to providers for this purpose. In addition, ONC’s efforts have recently turned to optimizing implementation guidance for these standards. Developing a portfolio of these standards and specifications, and creating strong guidance on how to implement them is among the most critical work being done in health IT today. Continue Reading Full Article Here…