Portrait of Steven Posnack

Information Sharing After the 21st Century Cures Act

Steven Posnack | November 16, 2021

When President Obama signed the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) into law in 2016, it marked a significant shift in health policy and health law. Not since the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) has there been a more noteworthy change in how electronic health information (EHI) is approached under United States federal law. Importantly, the Cures Act’s information blocking provision should always be considered in the context of other laws that speak to how EHI is shared in health care.

Read Full Post.
Portrait of Steven Posnack

What we heard: Health Interoperability Outcomes 2030

Steven Posnack | November 15, 2021

What should 2030 look like because of interoperability? That’s what we asked our stakeholders back in May 2021. And boy, did you all deliver! We received an overwhelming number of submissions, north of 700 one-liners, from Twitter and HealthIT.gov. We even got video submissions from leaders in the field – thank you again!

Read Full Post.
Portrait of Avinash Shanbhag

Aligning with Standards Development Community: The New Cycle for Standards Version Advancement Process

Avinash Shanbhag | October 15, 2021

As part of ONC’s ongoing charge to coordinate across federal and industry stakeholders, we determined it was necessary to adjust our Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) timeline. Although it may seem like this process has been around for a while, it’s still brand new and we’ve been looking at ways to optimize how the process aligns with other standards development work in the community. The changes we’ve made will help ensure timely publication of implementation specifications central to our cadence for new versions of USCDI.

Read Full Post.
Portrait of Rachel Abbey

Take the PULSE of Your Community

Rachel Abbey | September 27, 2021

Seven years ago the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) began work on the Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies (PULSE). PULSE is an effort to create national resilience by improving first responder access to patient electronic health information they need to provide services and ensure public health during disasters, including public health emergencies.

Read Full Post.
Portrait of Wes Barker

Research Results Published: More Apps are Integrating with EHRs

Wes Barker | September 24, 2021

New ONC research shows a more than 20% rise in the number of apps that integrate with certified electronic health records (EHRs).
A manuscript highlighting the findings of this research was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: The Ecosystem of Apps and Software integrated with Certified Health Information Technology”. Our study analyzed apps that were discoverable in app galleries managed by EHR developers – Allscripts,

Read Full Post.