The 2017 Annual Meeting will be held November 30-December 1, 2017 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC. This year’s event, Tackling Barriers to Interoperability and Usability, will feature engaging keynotes, panels, and breakout sessions. During these sessions with public and private partners, you can hear how they are improving the usability and interoperability of health IT. The hotel is holding a block of rooms for the meeting until Sunday, October 29, 2017, based on availability. Please make your reservations as soon as possible.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) will host the second in a series of meetings and webinars to inform our work in support of the 21st Century Cures Act trusted exchange framework and common agreement provisions outlined in Section 4003 of the law. ONC looks forward to working with stakeholders on implementation of this Cures provision—an integral component of the nationwide network-to-network exchange of health data and a critical part of ONC’s charge to support nationwide interoperability. As part of the September 29, 2017 webinar, ONC will share the results of a recent analysis of existing frameworks that support the interoperable flow of health information across disparate networks. The webinar will also provide an opportunity to hear more about the public comments ONC has received, as well as the status of the efforts to date to fulfill the requirement as outlined in the Cures Act. Following the September 29th webinar, we anticipate hosting the third and final meeting in this series in late November as part of the ONC Annual Meeting. Registration for the webinar is at capacity. Please check back here for the meeting transcript and slides following the meeting.

WHEN: Tuesday August 15, 2017 / 9:15 am – 5:30 pm (ET) Wednesday August 16, 2017 / 9:00 am – 1:30 pm (ET) WHERE: Washington Plaza Hotel 10 Thomas Circle, NW Washington, DC (In-person Only) WHO: Health IT Standards and Technology Community HOW: In-person Only Cost: Free! (Attendance is limited.) On August 15-16, 2017, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) will host a two-day, in-person only, technical interoperability forum with standards and technology industry stakeholders to:

Identify industry alignment around priority interoperability use cases.

Gain insight into current and expected interoperability challenges, including information blocking.

Better understand next steps that respective stakeholders can take individually and collectively to improve interoperability among health IT systems.

The 21st Century Cures Act charges ONC with improving interoperability among health IT systems, including reducing information blocking, and enhancing the usability, accessibility, and privacy and security of health IT.  Likewise, the law encourages continued engagement with industry stakeholders to inform both challenges and successes in achieving interoperability. These two days will focus on how ONC, our federal partners, the health care industry, and the technology sector can come together to shape the technical aspects of interoperability to achieve these important goals. If you lead, develop, and implement health IT systems or standards, this event is for you.

This half-day webinar will focus on the current state of interoperability of social determinants of health (SDOH) screening and assessment tools in care delivery, and describe their role in newer care and payment models. We will describe efforts and available resources to increase the interoperability of SDOH tools, concepts and data elements. Participants will come away with a better understanding of the principles of interoperability and how to leverage health IT to support the use of SDOH in clinical practice and to improve clinical decision support and quality measurement, care coordination, and population health management.

During the 21st Century Cures Act Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement kick-off meeting on July 24, 2017, ONC shared preliminary results of an ongoing analysis of existing frameworks and organizations that support the interoperable flow of health information across disparate networks, and alignment and gaps related to enabling trusted exchange nationally. Participants heard remarks from Dr. Don Rucker, National Coordinator, and Genevieve Morris, Principal Deputy National Coordinator, as well as a personal perspective on interoperability from Cynthia Fisher. Brief overviews and a panel question and answer session on National Trust Frameworks and Network-to-Network Connectivity also took place during the kick-off meeting. The panel included representatives from the following networks: Carequality – Dave Cassell; CARIN Alliance – Ryan Howells; CommonWell – Jitin Asnaani; Digital Bridge – Walter Suarez; DirectTrust – David Kibbe; eHealth Exchange – Mariann Yeager; NATE – Aaron Seib; and SHIEC – David Kendrick and Dick Thompson.

View agenda and additional content from the July 24 kick-off meeting

View details for upcoming September 29 webinar

Over the coming months, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) will host a series of meetings, webinars, and public comment periods to inform our work in support of the 21st Century Cures Act trusted exchange framework and common agreement provisions outlined in Section 4003 of the law. ONC looks forward to working with stakeholders on implementation of this Cures provision—an integral component of nationwide network-to-network exchange of health data and a critical part of ONC’s charge to support nationwide interoperability.  As part of our engagement with stakeholders, ONC held a 30-day public comment period to receive comments on the trusted exchange framework and common agreement provisions in Section 4003 of the Cures Act—including comments specifying considerations, concerns, and success stories for the exchange of health data across networks. Throughout this process, ONC looks forward to engaging with stakeholders across the health IT spectrum—including clinicians, policymakers, state and federal agencies, exchange service providers and organizations, and the private sector. We anticipate subsequent meetings, and the next meeting is expected to be in the early fall. These meetings, in addition to the public comment period, will help us gather more information about successful network-to-network exchange of health information, as outlined in the Cures Act. Public Comments on the 21st Century Cures Act Trusted Exchange Framework are Now Closed.

The Department of Health and Human Services and ONC will be participating in this year’s Health Datapalooza. The event, a public and private movement to liberate and use health data, will be held at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. from April 27-28, 2017. Read more about Health Datapalooza and this year’s themes.

ONC is pleased to participate in a number of activities during the HIMSS17 conference in Orlando from February 19 – 23, 2017. We hope you will join us and look forward to connecting with health care IT stakeholders across the industry. Stay engaged in ONC conversation via Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT or conversations related to HIMSS using hashtag #HIMSS17.