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
OFFICE HOURS SERIES: Let’s Discuss Information Sharing
When: Thursday, October 27, 2022 2:00 – 3:00 pm ET
Register for the Office Hours
Have questions about information sharing under ONC’s information blocking regulations? Join ONC’s experts for their final virtual office hours to ask them about the information blocking regulations.
Health IT Advisory Committee
Thursday, 11/10/22, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm ET
2022 ONC Virtual Tech Forum – Now on Demand!
As in years past, this year’s all-virtual 2022 ONC Tech Forum will feature industry perspectives on the progress made in health IT over the past year, and highlight how we can continue to advance health technology to improve patient care, health equity, data exchange, and interoperability.
Now Available: The 2022 ONC Annual Meeting Recordings & Presentations!
Want to revisit a session or attend a breakout session you weren’t able to watch from the virtual 2022 ONC Annual Meeting? You can now access all recorded sessions and presentations!
Check out the 2022 ONC Annual Meeting Sessions and Materials On-Demand.
News & Announcements
2022 LEAP in Health IT Awardees Focused on Health Equity
The 2022 awardees of LEAP in Health IT projects were announced recently. Two awards totaling $2M seek to address emerging challenges that inhibit the development, use, and advancement of interoperable health IT. The funding areas of interest are:
- Addressing health equity and social determinants of health through innovative, open-source technology tools and EHRs; and
- Demonstrating the use of equity-enhancing patient-generated health data for clinical care and research.
Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) Selected as Sync for Genes Phase 5 Demonstration Site
CHLA was selected to participate in Phase 5 of Sync for Genes to demonstrate interoperable sharing and interpretation of annotated genomic variants at the point-of-care.
The project will use Global Alliance for Genomic Health (GA4GH) and FHIR® standards to facilitate more complete data exchange which better supports the application of genomics research in clinical settings. Sharing of annotated genomic variants between clinicians and knowledge bases also enables computerized clinical decision support (CDS) that can help clinicians understand how to utilize genomic data and research in a clinical setting. Read More About Sync for Genes.
Resources
New! ‘Workflow, Automation, and 21st Century Health Care Delivery’ JAMIA article details the work & findings of the multidisciplinary effort to identify opportunities for automation & efficiencies in health care: https://t.co/wCardNoe7B @AMIAinformatics #workflowautomation pic.twitter.com/y0N9lVfGe3
— ONC (@ONC_HealthIT) October 21, 2022
Improving #healthliteracy never stops! Speaking of which, have you checked out ONC’s #HealthIT Playbook lately? There’s something for everyone to learn, regardless of health literacy level. https://t.co/Mnfsl7oDIa #HealthLiteracyMonth @iha_the pic.twitter.com/IIlFP5KWBv
— ONC (@ONC_HealthIT) October 12, 2022
ONC's Cures Act Final Rule
In May of 2020 the 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program released by the ONC and published in the Federal Register. Here is a quick timeline.
Certification
- 6/30/20 – General Effective Date
- 4/5/21 – Compliance requirements start for information blocking, assurance, and API
- 4/5/21 – HIT developers prohibited from restricting certain communications
- 12/15/21 – Submit initial real world testing plans
- 4/1/22 – 1st attestation to conditions of Cert required
- 12/31/22 – New HL7 FHIR API capability and other update criteria must be made available
- 3/15/23 – Submit initial real world testing results
- 12/31/23 – EHI export capability must be made available
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:
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- Two Sides of the AI/ML Coin in Health Care
- Where APIs meet Health Equity by Design: Introducing the FHIRedApp Health Innovation
- Interoperability in Action: CMS Rule Builds on ONC Initiatives to Simplify Health Information Exchange
- Top Three Themes from ONC’s Electronic Health Information Sharing Workshop
- Information Blocking: Eight Regulatory Reminders for October 6th
- Improving Data Infrastructure for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Accelerating Patient-Centered Outcomes Research through Synthetic Health Data Generation
- ONC and CDC Working Together to Strengthen Public Health Systems, Tools, and Practices that Keep Us Safe
- Minimizing Risks and Maximizing Rewards from Machine Learning
- USCDI+ In Action! ONC and HRSA launch USCDI+ Initiative to support UDS Modernization
- Using Health IT Integration to Address the Drug Overdose Crisis
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: Argonaut Phase 2 Implementation & Testing – Developing a Web Based Client – This is a personal project to test the FHIR and Security standards, that are currently being tested as part of the Argonaut Phase 2 Implementation & Testing Project. The project is currently developing a web based client that connects securely (via SMART OAuth2 profiles) to various FHIR servers that are being deployed by participants of the Argonaut project. Once the Argonaut phase 2 implementation is completed, the application will be deployed on the internet.
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.