New Resources to Help Health IT Developers Understand ONC Cures Act Final Rule Requirements

Robert Anthony | January 4, 2021

As the compliance dates for the 21st Century Cures Act: Information Blocking, Interoperability, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program Final Rule (ONC Cures Act Final Rule) draw nearer, ONC has created additional resources to assist the health IT developer community. These resources include a consolidated view of key dates, a criterion-by-criterion resource for the 2015 Edition Cures Update, and a deep dive into forthcoming certified application programming interface (API) requirements.

While these new resources focus on specific aspects of the ONC Cures Act Final Rule for health IT developers there is a growing library of educational materials and explanations about it that we encourage all health IT developers to consult:

New resources include:

  • The ONC Cures Act Final Rule includes various compliance dates. The 2015 Edition Cures Update Key Dates compiles all the important dates to help health IT developers of certified health IT understand what requirements they need to meet at various time points.
  • The Cert Notes: 2015 Edition Cures Update Reference document summarizes changes made to the 2015 Edition Certification Criteria requirements as outlined in the ONC Cures Act Final Rule. Health IT developers can use this resource to understand changes to specific certification criteria and learn what may be needed to gain the certification status of “2015 Edition Cures Update” for their Health IT Modules.
  •  The API Resource Guide is intended for health IT developers seeking ONC certification to one or more of the API certification criteria (170.315(g)(7) – (g)(10)) or compliance with API Conditions or Maintenance of Certification requirements. It is a comprehensive resource that incorporates ONC clarifications from the ONC Cures Act Final Rule preamble, Certification Companion Guides, and additional educational materials to assist health IT developers to meet the API requirements of the ONC Certification Program.

As you can see, ONC has available a variety of resources to help health IT developers comply with the ONC Cures Act Final Rule. We hope the health IT developer community finds these useful as important compliance dates approach.  Got questions? Reach out to the ONC certification team!