As part of  HHS’s response to President Biden’s Executive Order on Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats, ONC’s Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) recently held an expert panel hearing to understand the performance of public health data systems during the COVID-19 pandemic  response and other gap areas in current infrastructure.

As we continue to learn more about all of the factors that affect our health, where we live has proven to become more insightful over time. Our ability to study and measure health impacts, conduct public health monitoring across communities, deliver medications safely to patients, and a number of other efforts rely on the availability and accuracy of patient address data. Clinicians, researchers, and public health professionals must also have the ability to successfully link disparate records,

As the world responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to see how digital health plays a vital role in care delivery. ONC recognizes the importance of advancing digital health at domestic and global levels. As discussed in a previous blog post, part of ONC’s global engagement includes representing the United States in the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP). The GDHP currently runs five work streams: Interoperability, Clinical and Consumer Engagement, Cyber Security,

Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed modifications to its Promoting Interoperability Program that, if finalized, would require hospitals to report on four public health and clinical data exchange measures. This proposal is the latest in a series of coordinated steps taken across HHS to leverage data standards and specifications adopted as part of ONC’s Health IT Certification Program to enable nationwide public health reporting.