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Learn more about HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
A Decade of Data Examined, Health Information Exchange, Interoperability Raising the Bar on Interoperability – A Decade of Data Show that “Sometimes” Isn’t Good Enough
Jordan Everson | June 17, 2024
A decade ago, as EHRs were rapidly implemented across the country, ONC sought to make sure these newly implemented technologies were interoperable. Since 2014, ONC has tracked progress toward widespread interoperability among hospitals and physicians by measuring their engagement in four domains of health information exchange: electronically finding, sending, receiving, and integrating patient health information. As shown in the figure below, US hospitals experienced widespread progress toward interoperability with 70% of hospitals reporting that they ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ engaged in all four domains in 2023,
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Interoperability USCDI+ Milestone! ONC and HRSA Modernization Initiative Goes Live
Steven Posnack | June 13, 2024
ONC’s USCDI+ program recently reached a milestone as part of a joint initiative started in August 2022 with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). HRSA and HRSA Health Center Program grantees launched one of the first real-world implementations using the Health Level 7 International (HL7®) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) Bulk Data Access standard as part of a federal program.
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Health IT 2025 ISA Comment Period Opens on the New ISP Platform!
Ashley Ashworth | June 12, 2024
It’s time for our favorite summer tradition—this time on a new platform! The annual comment period for the Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) will be open June 12 – August 12, 2024. This year we’re launching a new Interoperability Standards Platform (ISP) to house not only ISA, but all our other important standards initiatives, including the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), USCDI+, Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP), and many more.
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Information Blocking Supporting Information Privacy for Patients, Now and Always: Four Reminders of How HHS Information Blocking Regulations Recognize Privacy Rules
Micky Tripathi | May 13, 2024
On April 22, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a final rule, entitled HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy. HHS issued this final rule after hearing from communities that changes were needed to better protect patient confidentiality and prevent medical records from being used against people for providing or obtaining lawful reproductive health care. The final rule strengthens the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule by prohibiting the disclosure of protected health information (PHI) where the PHI is sought for use against any person for merely seeking,
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Health IT Navigating Healthcare Transformation: A Nurse’s Perspective on ONC’s HTI-1 Final Rule
Melinda (Mindy) Kidder | May 6, 2024
In the ever-evolving landscape of health care, nurses are at the forefront of patient care, witnessing firsthand the impact of transformative initiatives and regulatory updates. ONC’s HTI-1 final rule is a catalyst for change, ushering in a new era for health IT. In this blog post, we take a look from a nursing perspective at the promises, challenges, and potential HTI-1 implementation holds for patient care.
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