What’s Happening at the ONC – 05-24-21

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Posted By: HHS/ONC/CMS Communications May 24, 2021

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is at the forefront of the administration’s health IT efforts and is a resource to the entire health system to support the adoption of health information technology and the promotion of nationwide health information exchange to improve health care. ONC is organizationally located within the Office of the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Here is what they are doing and reporting. Follow them @ONC_HealthIT. Sign up for their email updates.

Events

Advancing SDOH Interoperability: Enabling Privacy and Consent through Standards and Implementations

Join them for a two part webinar series on social determinants of health (SDOH) and interoperability. Participants must register for each webinar separately.

TODAY! Monday, May 24, 2021  2:00 – 3:30 pm ET
Register for this event.

This webinar is focused on the status of standards relevant to supporting SDOH data exchange through enabling privacy protections, the capture of patient consent, and data tagging.

Wednesday, June 2, 2021  2:00 – 3:00 pm ET
Register for this event.

This webinar will feature presentations from organizations working to leverage, test, and implement the standards discussed in the previous webinar.

Note: These webinars above will be recorded and made available on HealthIT.gov.

Real World Testing Webinar

Wednesday, May 26, 2021 1:00 pm ET
Register for this event.

This webinar is specifically designed for health IT developers participating in ONC’s Health IT Certification Program. ONC will provide an overview of Real World Testing requirements, including the timelines and plan submission to help developers meet Real World Testing requirements.

Health IT Advisory Committee
Wednesday, 06/09/2021, 9:30 AM

News and Announcements

Sunsetting the Interoperability Roadmap
While the path to nationwide interoperability of health information continues, ONC is sunsetting the Interoperability Roadmap. Many of you helped guide ONC as we laid the groundwork and set the 10-year trajectory for policy development, resulting in new information blocking policies, efforts to reduce health IT burden on providers, and much more. Read the Blog Post.

Health Interoperability Outcomes 2030

Cures Rule

New ONC Standards Bulletin Issue Available!
This issue focuses on health IT’s ability to capture a patient’s race and ethnicity using standardized terminology and codes included in the ONC certification criterion. Capturing race and ethnicity data will help efforts to identify and eliminate health disparities and to improve patient care. Read the Latest ONC Standards Bulletin 2021-2.

Social Determinants of Health were a Common Theme at the 2021 ONC Annual Meeting
SDOH were a recurring theme throughout the sessions at this year’s ONC Annual Meeting. A Health IT Buzz Blog post highlights a panel of health information exchange experts from around the country who discussed the challenges, progress, and key takeaways in integrating SDOH data with patients’ electronic health records. Watch Annual Meeting Sessions On-Demand.

ONC Standards News, Reminders, and More
There has been a flurry of activity around health care standards ever since the Cures Act Final Rule was finalized just over a year ago. ONC’s efforts to advance the interoperable exchange of electronic health information continue. Visit the ONC Health IT Buzz Blog to learn more about their standards work and how you can provide them with feedback about key ONC activities. Read the Blog Post.

How are Hospitals Tracking Clinicians’ Time Spent Using EHRs?
ONC experts’ latest article in JAMIA examines how hospitals use their electronic health record (EHR) or other IT system data to track the amount of time clinicians spend on documentation in the inpatient setting. The authors report on the types of measures EHR vendors provide to hospitals to support their work and the sources of data underlying these measures. The article, “Measuring time clinicians spend using EHRs in the inpatient setting: a national, mixed-methods study,” was recently published with free access for a limited time. Read the Article.

Recording Available: Learn more about the Draft USCDI v2 and SVAP
The recording and presentation slides from the March 18 ONC Draft USCDI v2 and SVAP informational webinar are now available. Speakers discussed ONC’s Draft United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) Version 2, the Standards Versions Advancement Process (SVAP) flexibility for ONC-Certified Health IT, and commonly asked questions related to these topics. Watch the Recording.

Now Available for ONC Certification: SVAP Approved Versions for 2020
The Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) Approved Versions for 2020 are now available in the ONC Health IT Certification Program. The SVAP allows health IT developers the flexibility to voluntarily update their certified health IT to include newer versions of adopted standards used in the Program. Learn More About the SVAP.

ONC Health IT Certification Program New Resource Available
The ONC Health IT Certification Program has released a new fact sheet for Real World Testing requirements of the ONC Cures Act Final Rule. The fact sheet describes Real World Testing requirements for Health IT Developers participating in the ONC Health IT Certification Program. This resource will assist the Health IT Developer community in understanding how the requirements outlined in the ONC 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule apply to them and provide a practical overview of the Real World Testing Condition and Maintenance of Certification requirements. View the Fact Sheet.

Resources

Health Records

Health IT Playbook

New Pediatric Resource Available
ONC recently released the Pediatric Health Information Technology: Pediatric Healthcare Provider Informational Resource (Healthcare Provider IR) to support the implementation of health IT products used by clinicians that provide healthcare for children. The Developer and Healthcare Provider IRs identify ONC’s ten recommendations for health IT for pediatric care, relevant certification criteria within the ONC Health IT Certification Program, and other information to support the implementation of health IT products to support the safe and effective healthcare of children. Learn more.

Updates to the SRA Tool
ONC, in partnership with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently released an update to the HHS Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Tool. This tool provides support for small- and medium-sized health care organizations in their efforts to assess security risks. This enhanced version of the SRA Tool includes a variety of new features like improved navigation throughout the assessment sections, export options for reports, and enhanced user interface scaling. Download SRA Tool.

New Resources to Address the Privacy and Security of Health Data Used in Research
ONC has released the final report of the Privacy and Security Framework for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) project. The report highlights a framework and resources that support the responsible use of health data for PCOR. Learn more about how these resources can support stakeholders as they navigate the complexities of sharing health data for research and better protect patient data in the final report. Read the Final Report.

ONC’s Cures Act Final Rule Webinars & Resources
As of June 30, 2020, ONC’s 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule is effective. Please visit 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program, for detailed information about the rule. ONC recently completed a series of question-and-answer webinars on ONC’s Cures Act Final Rule. All webinars were recorded. Visit the Cures Rule website to view all the webinar recordings, slide presentations, and resources about the Final Rule.

Tools and Resources for the Health IT Community
To support HHS’s ongoing response efforts to the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), ONC is partnering with the CDC to direct the health IT community and healthcare providers to various resources for reporting and tracking of coronavirus disease or COVID-19. Visit HealthIT.gov for more.

Read

From the Health IT Buzz Blog – Learn more about HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Check out the latest blog posts:

Spotlighting Interoperability Proving Ground Programs

The Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG) is an open, community platform where you can share, learn, and be inspired by interoperability projects taking place across the nation. ONC is asking those working on COVID-19 interoperability projects to share your project on the IPG and tag it with #COVID-19. We’re reviewing every entry to identify opportunities for connection and collaboration among the community on these critical efforts.

The Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG) Spotlight project of the week is: A HIPAA Compliant, Interdisciplinary Collaboration Tool for Front-Line Clinicians: TrekIT – Created by clinicians for clinicians at Penn Medicine, TrekIT is a HIPAA compliant clinical workflow tool that was built to enable seamless team-based collaboration across every provider in every setting and requires no IT resources to deploy. To support the medical community during this time of extreme strain, we are offering TrekIT free of charge to our colleagues on the front-lines.

Learn how your interoperability project can be featured as an IPG Spotlight by visiting the Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG). Once a project is submitted or updated, projects will automatically be added to the feature queue to be randomly selected as a featured project.

ONC Interoperability Pledge

Companies that provide 90 percent of electronic health records used by hospitals nationwide as well as the top five largest health care systems in the country have agreed to implement three core commitments: Consumer Access, No Blocking/Ensuring Transparency, and Standards. The ONC (@ONC_HealthIT) wants vendors to sign a pledge. Is your vendor pledging? Find out who is on the list.