Top Highlights of the ONC
On the 6th Day of our 12 Days of Christmas Posts, we turn our attention to the ONC. And speaking of laying, how about the ONC and their continued work on laying the foundation for EHR adoption? Here are six 2012 highlights of the ONC.
1. In May the ONC launched the Health IT Dashboard with interactive data, charts, maps, and graphs. The Dashboard presents key information and data to enable collaborative monitoring of the impact of federal policies, programs, and research activities related to health IT. Datasets and statistics are updated regularly. The Meaningful Use category was recently added with EHR incentive payment datasets.
2. In June of 2012 the ONC released Version 2.1 of the Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL). The new and improved features to the program supply Certification IDs to participants in the CMS EHR Incentive programs. Of the updates they implemented the functionality capable of supporting a “Hybirid” Certification.
3. In August the ONC released the companion final rule to the CMS stage 2 meaningful use final rule. The Health Information Technology: Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology, 2014 Edition; Revisions to the Permanent Certification Program for Health Information Technology final rule was effective in September. The rule outlines the certification criteria that establishes the technical capabilities and specifies the related standards and implementation specifications that certified EHR technology will need to include support achieving meaningful use.
4. In September, kicking off the annual National Health IT Week, the ONC brought us the 2012 Consumer Health IT Summit. The Summit celebrated the progress the public and private sector made in making health information more available to consumers and engaging them to use their data to improve their care. More pledges and information on the Blue Button was revealed. You can view the Summit on the HHS Youtube channel.
5. October brought the ONC HIT Certification Program fully operational and the ONC continuing to manage the overall program. Certification of EHRs began with a Temporary Certification Program (TCP) then moving to a Permanent Certification Program (PCP) now known as the ONC Health Information Technology (HIT) Certification Program. EHR products now will be tested by Accredited Testing Laboratories (ATLs) then certified by an ONC-Authorized Certification Bodies (ONC-ACBs).
6. Challenge.gov is a part of President Obama’s Strategy for American Innovation and the America Competes initiative. The ONC has participated from the beginning with challenges to advance health IT. To date the ONC has initiated 27 challenges with prizes totaling $1,252,750. Check out all of their challenges at Challenge.gov.
12 Days of Christmas Posts
Day 1: No Reindeer Games Here – It’s a Health IT Sledfest
Day 2: A Year of Health Information Technology on Twitter
Day 3: Health IT Business News Wrap-Up – December 16, 2012
Day 4: Health Information Technology Year End List of Lists
Day 5: A Year of Healthcare Podcasts
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