By Steven Posnack, M.S., M.H.S., and Brett Andriesen
Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT
Steven’s Twitter: @HealthIT_Policy
We know it’s been a busy year for your reviewing and commenting on our 21st Century Cures Act Proposed Rule and the latest draft documents associated with the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).
But don’t put your proverbial pen down yet! Summer is the time for the annual Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) comment and review period. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) needs your comments on revisions and additions you suggest we make to the current content in the ISA. We are looking for your recommendations before we take a “snapshot” of the ISA toward the end of the year. Any comments we receive will be reviewed for inclusion and the ISA will then be updated and posted on our website – referred to as the 2020 Reference Edition.
The ISA is a dynamic, coordinated catalog of the standards and implementation specifications that can be used to meet interoperability needs in healthcare. It continues to serve as the industry’s primary source of input on the interoperability standards that are a best fit for a particular health information technology (health IT) use case, and plays a key role in ONC’s efforts to implement the 21st Century Cures Act. Your continued feedback is critical to ensure that the ISA includes the most up-to-date and accurate state of health IT standards across the US.
This is the fifth year we are looking for your help to incrementally add to and update the ISA based on year-round comments and other changes to the health IT standards landscape. So far this year we have added several new components and functions to the ISA, including:
- the addition of several interoperability needs related to Electronic Prescribing and Tobacco Use;
- a new Appendix, providing links to State and Local Public Health Agencies’ interoperability efforts; and,
- lists of interoperability needs in support of “Specialty Care and Settings”, including Pediatrics and Opioids (prevention and treatment).
Visit the ISA to review these and other new updates and provide us with your comments. If there are interoperability needs that should be included, updated versions of standards or implementation specifications to add, or additional specialty care or settings listings that would be helpful, the annual review and comment period is the time to share that with us.
Want to see your suggestions in the 2020 Reference Edition? Comments received by 11:59 pm ET on September 23, 2019 will be reviewed for inclusion before we take our “snapshot” of the ISA. Because the ISA is a dynamic resource, comments are regularly reviewed and the site is updated year-round. For all comments to the ISA, either the dynamic online version or the Reference Edition, please comment directly in the respective “interoperability need” categories using the site comment function. That will allow others to see related comments as they review the ISA. Alternatively, consolidated comment letters may be submitted by attaching them to a comment on the ISA introduction page. Please note that a user account is required to submit comments. Create a user account by clicking the “Log In” button located at the top right of the ISA page.
Thank you for your continued support and input!
This post was originally published on the Health IT Buzz and is syndicated here with permission.