What’s Happening at the ONC – 11-06-20

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Posted By: Roberta Mullin November 6, 2020

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

News

Final 2020-2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan Now Available
Last week, ONC released the final 2020-2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan. The Plan defines a set of goals, objectives, and strategies that guide the federal government in supporting the access, exchange, and use of electronic health information to connect healthcare with health data. The Plan explains how the use of health IT can further support:

  • Health and wellness;
  • Delivery and experience of care; and
  • A secure, data-driven ecosystem to accelerate research and innovation.

This Plan is outcomes-driven, with goals focused on meeting the needs of individuals, populations, caregivers, healthcare providers, payers, public health professionals, researchers, developers, and innovators. Read the Plan.

ONC Announces Interim Final Rule with Comment Period
Last week, ONC announced the Cures Act Interim Final Rule with Comment Period. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ONC is extending compliance dates and timeframes for Information Blocking and the ONC Health IT Certification Program. The interim final rule will:

  • Extend the applicability date for the Information Blocking provisions.
  • Extend the compliance dates in the ONC Health IT Certification Program (Program), including certain 2015 Edition health IT certification criteria and Conditions and Maintenance of
  • Certification requirements.
  • Make changes to the Program by updating standards and clarifying regulatory text for specific certification criteria.
  • Make technical corrections and clarifications.

Learn about the Interim Final Rule.

Sync for Genes Phase 4: Call for Demonstration Sites
ONC is seeking health IT companies, genomic medicine organizations, researchers, and clinical institutions to participate as demonstration sites in the Sync for Genes Phase 4 Sharing Genomic Data with Individuals project. Sync for Genes Phase 4 will develop and test health IT infrastructure to enable interoperable sharing of genomic data and supporting information with individuals. Selected sites will use standardized Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) APIs to advance the project goals. Profiles are due by January 8, 2021. Download the Demonstration Site Profile. Read more about Sync for Genes Phase 4.

Last Week to Submit ISA & SVAP Comments
ONC is providing more opportunities to submit feedback and input regarding standards and interoperability efforts this summer. ONC recently launched the inaugural Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) comment period, alongside the annual Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) review and comment period. Submit feedback by November 9 at 11:59 PM ET. Learn More.

Hospital Interoperability in Major Cities
ONC released a new data brief describing the state of interoperability among hospitals in 15 major U.S. cities. These hospitals reported higher rates of interoperability of health data compared to hospitals in the rest of country; however, variation between cities exists. Hospital interoperability increased with participation in health information exchanges and health IT developers’ footprint within a city. Read the data brief.

Now Available: EHR Reporting Program Voluntary User-Reported Criteria
The final EHR Reporting Program criteria for users to voluntarily report on their EHRs is now available. The 21st Century Cures Act created the program to provide public, comparative information about certified health IT. ONC’s contractor, The Urban Institute, worked extensively with stakeholders to develop voluntary user-reported criteria. Learn More.

Opportunities for the Use of Health IT to Support Research
Select findings from ONC’s National Health IT Priorities for Research: A Policy and Development Agenda were recently published in JAMIA Open. To inform development of the Agenda, ONC reviewed needs and gaps in health IT infrastructure that may slow research progress and identified opportunities to advance the use of health IT for scientific discovery. Released in February 2020, the paper articulates a vision of a health IT infrastructure that supports alignment between the clinical and research ecosystems so research can happen more quickly and effectively. Read more about the Agenda.

Health Records

Careers at ONC

  • ONC Presidential Management Fellow Rotation Opportunity
    ONC invites interested Presidential Management Fellows (PMFs) to use their skills and experience to contribute to projects and activities focused on patient-centered outcomes research, precision medicine, and innovative uses of health IT in research. During this 4- to 6-month rotational opportunity, the PMF will work collaboratively on team-based projects related to the use of health IT to support research and contribute to development of ideas for new projects or initiatives. PMFs will gain enhanced technical knowledge about using health IT and data from health IT systems in research. PMFs will also have the opportunity to interact with leaders inside and outside the federal government. Apply Now.
  • Health IT Specialist, GS-14
    ONC is looking for candidates to provide leadership and direction to support the seamless exchange of Health Information Technology in compliance with established health IT agenda. The incumbent serves as a technical expert in implementation and testing of health IT standards. Apply by November 12 to be considered for this opportunity. Apply Now.
  • Public Health Analyst
    As a Public Health Analyst, you will be involved in many aspects of HIT, including policy coordination, strategic planning for the adoption of health IT and health information exchanges (HIE), working alongside standards development organizations and, above all, promoting a national health IT infrastructure. Apply Now. *The deadline to apply is November 9, 2020 for the public.

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.

Reminder: 2014 Edition Retired
ONC’s 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule retires the 2014 Edition from ONC’s Health IT Certification Program as of the rule effective date, June 30, 2020. This includes all 2014 Edition certification criteria and related standards, terms, and requirements, which will be removed from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Visit HealthIT.gov for additional guidance.

Please note: any developers who were only certified to the 2014 Edition and had not yet updated to the 2015 Edition prior to June 30, 2020, are no longer considered active under ONC’s Health IT Certification Program.

Using Real-World Data to Advance Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
ONC recently released the results from the Coordinated Registry Network for Women’s Health Technologies project, a collaborative effort to enable researchers to generate real-world evidence using data that address some women’s health issues. Coordinated registry networks (CRNs) enable research across clinical registries to study multiple interventions and play an important role in advancing patient-centered outcomes research. Read the final report to learn more about lessons learned from developing and testing the Women’s Health Technologies CRN FHIR® Implementation Guide.

New Recording Available
On June 1, ONC hosted a virtual working session to provide input and insight into existing challenges and promising innovations in patient identity and matching. The recording is now available.

New Infographic Available – What is the HITAC?
Learn about the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) through a recently released infographic showcasing the history and significant highlights of the HITAC to date. The HITAC is composed of 32 volunteers who make recommendations to the National Coordinator of Health IT regarding implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act. Those recommendations include ones related to implementation of the ONC Cures Act Final Rule and Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement.

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:

Key Takeaways from the ONC 2020 Annual Meeting
Did you miss the headlines from ONC’s 10th Annual Meeting? If so, they have compiled a list of the major themes from this year’s meeting. The event hosted more than 1,200 stakeholders and focused on the importance of patients’ access to health information, privacy concerns, health care cost transparency, health IT standards, and what these topics look like from different perspectives. All plenary sessions and keynote messages from the Annual Meeting are available via webcast.

Health IT Advisory Committee Task Forces
The Health IT Advisory Committee (HITAC) launched four task forces to review and provide recommendations on ONC’s proposed rule. The task forces include: Information Blocking, Conditions and Maintenance of Certification Requirements, Health IT for the Care Continuum and U.S. Core Data for Interoperability. The task forces are expected to conduct reviews and provide recommendations over the next two months. Follow the Task Forces

ONC Has the Data
Close to 50 original data briefs that provide information about current topics in health IT are available on HealthIT.gov. These reports summarize national-level data analyses, providing readers with easy to understand graphics, key takeaways, and policy discussions. Check out ONC’s Data Briefs.

Health IT Advisory Committee Meeting
The next Health IT Advisory Committee Meeting will be held Tuesday, November 10, 2020.

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.