On December 10, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services released a notice of proposed rulemaking Reducing Provider and Patient Burden by Improving Prior Authorization Processes, and Promoting Patients’ Electronic Access to Health Information, which builds on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Interoperability and Patient Access final rule released earlier this year. This new proposed rule includes additional proposed requirements for payers to implement standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs) that can help address critical health care challenges such as improving the efficiency of prior authorization processes.

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Standards come about for many reasons. They make things more efficient, cost effective, and safer to name a few. Often you’ll hear witty banter in the standards community (I know…right!?) about whether something is “fit for purpose.” This is also accompanied by the question, “what’s your use case?”

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Successful health research hinges on the quality of the data used to advance discovery and needed health IT functionality. Electronic health data are increasingly available and can be a significant boon for the medical research community. Coupled with ubiquitous use of consumer and patient health technologies and increasing prevalence of application programming interfaces, or APIs, there is potential to expand existing data sources for research.

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As the capability to sequence an individual’s genome or exome continues to expand—and the cost continues to fall—more states are considering how next generation sequencing (NGS) could support their newborn screening programs, which test approximately four million babies born in the United States each year for congenital, treatable diseases.
Results from NGS can help enhance newborn screening programs by providing more information beyond traditional biochemical and other tests. Not all states have the expertise needed to interpret NGS results,

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Health information technology can play an important role in helping to achieve the aims of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This year marks the 30th anniversary of the passage of the ADA – a major milestone in our Nation’s history that has helped increase access and opportunity for individuals with disabilities. The ADA prohibits discrimination and is intended to guarantee that people with disabilities have equal opportunities to fully participate in mainstream American life, including state and local programs and services.

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