What’s Happening at the ONC – 11-22-19

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Posted By: Roberta Mullin November 22, 2019

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.

News

FAST Technical Learning Community (TLC) — FAST Proposed Technical Solutions to FHIR Scalability Barriers
Join ONC’s FHIR at Scale Task Force (FAST) Tiger Team for an HL7-hosted webinar series about proposed solutions for scaling FHIR. This will be an opportunity for the FAST Technical Learning Community (TLC) to learn about and provide feedback on the technical barriers, outstanding challenges, and the proposed draft solutions being considered within each of the Tiger Team focus areas. The FAST TLC and anyone else interested in this work is encouraged to attend and provide feedback to each of the FAST Tiger Teams. You can also join the FAST TLC LinkedIn Group to follow the discussion across all of these proposed FHIR scalability solutions. Register for each webinar below.

Directory, Versioning, & Scale – November 25, 2019, 12:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Testing & Certification – December 12, 2019, 12:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Security – December 16, 2019, 12:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Exchange – December 19, 2019, 12:00 – 2:00 PM ET

New Health IT Resource: NIH’s FHIR Initiatives & Resources Page
The National Institutes of Health has published information about Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) Initiatives. Find the initiatives and resources on the NIH website. Also, NIH issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public input on how the Health Level Seven International (HL7®) FHIR® standard could be used for research purposes. Comments to the RFI should be submitted electronically by Nov. 23, 2019.

National Survey Participation on HIOs
A national survey of health information exchange organizations (HIOs) is underway. Led by Dr. Julia Adler-Milstein of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), the survey is near the end of data collection. Please participate in the survey if you have been contacted by UCSF. The aggregated results will help inform the national conversation on key issues impacting HIOs, such as the geographic coverage of HIOs, trusted exchange framework and common agreement, how HIOs support interoperability and exchange, and common challenges. Questions? Contact Dr. Adler-Milstein at Julia.Adler-Milstein@ucsf.edu.

Report Highlights AHRQ Research Aimed at Improving Care Quality and Safety Through Health Information Technology
Key actionable findings from AHRQ-supported grants are included in the agency’s newly released Health Information Technology Research 2018 Year in Review. The annual report describes the results of AHRQ-funded investigations aimed at improving the quality and safety of healthcare via health information technology. AHRQ grantees featured in the report tackled topics ranging from decreasing tobacco-related healthcare costs using interactive voice response technology to increasing patient engagement in reporting and monitoring asthma symptoms with a mobile app. To learn more about AHRQ’s investments in health information technology research, view or download the report.

New Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) Content Page on the eCQI Resource Center
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published information on the Health Level 7 (HL7) exchange standard, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) to the eCQI Resource Center. CMS is highlighting this next generation exchange framework being adopted by the healthcare community to advance interoperability and is exploring its potential use in quality measurement. FHIR provides a means for representing and sharing information among clinicians and organizations in a standard way regardless of the ways local electronic health records represent or store the data.

The new FHIR pages on the eCQI Resource Center include:

  • About – Overview of FHIR basics, benefits, and use in electronic clinical quality measurement.
  • Tools and Resources – Information and links on tools and resources used with FHIR.
  • Education – Links to past educational sessions on FHIR.
  • Connect – Opportunities to connect with the those working on FHIR development, testing, and deployment.

Visit the new FHIR content page on the eCQI Resource Center

ONC is Hiring!
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is seeking several Public Health Analysts and Policy Analysts to join their team.

  • Public Health Analysts
    As a public health analyst, you will play an important role in working on key issues around electronic health information exchange and interoperability in the evolving nationwide health information ecosystem. For status candidates, the first deadline is November 29, 2019. Apply (status candidates).
  • Policy Analysts
    As a policy analyst, you will play an important role in policy development regarding electronic health information exchange and interoperability in the evolving nationwide health information ecosystem. For status candidates, the first deadline is November 29, 2019. Apply (status candidates).

Using FHIR Standard for Research – Request for Input
The Office of Data Science Strategy at the National Institutes of Health recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public input on how the Health Level Seven International (HL7®) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) standard could be used for research purposes. NIH would like to better understand researchers’ experiences using FHIR, the extent to which researchers plan or do not plan to use FHIR, what tools may be needed to effectively use FHIR, the need for research regarding standards development, and opportunities and challenges with using FHIR. Comments to the RFI should be submitted electronically by Nov. 23, 2019. Read more.

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.

Security Risk Assessment Tool Update
An updated version of the Security Risk Assessment (SRA) tool is available that includes bug fixes, enhancements, and a security patch. We encourage those running the previous version to upgrade as soon as possible.

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

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:

Events

Health IT Advisory Committee Meeting
The next Health IT Advisory Committee Meeting will be held Wednesday, January 15, 2020.

ONC Annual Meeting Registration is Open
What: #ONC2020 Annual Meeting – Connecting Policy and Technology: Brining the EHR to the Patient
When: January 27-28, 2020
Where: JW Marriott; Washington, DC
Register for this event.

Spotlighting Interoperability Proving Ground Programs

The Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG) Spotlight project of the week is San Diego HIE Creates Consent Management Platform – The San Diego Regional Health Information Exchange is developing a new FHIR-based application to simplify consent management and ensure interoperable services. This project is focused on Standardization and Implementation of Scalable HL7® FHIR® Consent Resource by targeting four use cases: privacy consent, medical treatment consent, research consent, and advance care directives.

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.