Welcome to the Health IT Buzz Blog, a service of HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). This blog was created to answer your questions about the nation’s transition to electronic health records and to create a conversation about the challenges and successes health care providers, physicians, practices, and organizations are experiencing as they transition from paper to electronic health records.
Latest Buzz Posts
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Advancing Health IT and Preventing Data Blocking through Model Contract Language
As we move to transform the health care system into one that delivers more coordinated care across various clinicians and providers, it is important that data is available to providers and patients when and where they need it. To achieve this goal of ensuring the flow of health data and, ultimately, better care, the country has invested in the technology and infrastructure to connect patients’ clinical experiences.
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A New Tool to Help Health Care Providers Get the Most Out of their Health IT
Today, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is releasing the Health IT Playbook to help make using health information technology (health IT) easier for providers so they can get the most out of their technology investment. The Playbook is a dynamic, web-based resource that builds on and updates the Patient Engagement Playbook for Providers, which was released earlier this year. It is a mixture of key “plays” that combines practical, technical, and workflow assistance through a variety of tools and resources that should prove helpful to providers and practice staff.
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New Data Show More Hospitals than Ever Making Information Available Electronically to Patients
To help individuals manage their health, beginning in 2011, the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs called on health care providers to enable patients to electronically view, download, and transmit their health information to a destination of the patient’s choice. In 2015, the Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap [PDF – 2.6 MB] reaffirmed this objective.
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Publishing the Draft 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory for Public Comment: The Latest Step Towards Common, Federally Recognized Standards
Today, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published the draft 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) for public comment. The ISA is a coordinated catalog of standards and implementation specifications that are available for use by the health information technology (health IT) industry to meet interoperability needs. It is a key element of ONC’s continued implementation of the Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap and directly supports the Interoperability Commitments that leading health IT developers, providers, and professional associations and stakeholder groups made earlier this year to adopt “federally recognized, national interoperability standards, policies, guidance, and practices for electronic health information.”
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Moving Interoperability Forward by Engaging Small, Rural, and Critical Access Hospitals
As I announced at our recent Annual Meeting, hospitals across the country continue to make progress toward the goal of ensuring that health information flows where it is needed the most. Today, almost all U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals have certified electronic health record (EHR) technology and 82 percent are electronically exchanging laboratory results, radiology reports, clinical care summaries, or medication lists with ambulatory care providers or hospitals outside their organization – double the percentage from 2008.
