Interoperability Standards Advisory: Annual Request for Comments

By Steven Posnack, M.S., M.H.S. & Brett Andriesen
Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT
Steven’s Twitter: @HealthIT_Policy

Sunscreen – check.

Bathing suit – check.

Towel – check.

Comment on the Interoperability Standards Advisory – …?

Just in time for your summer checklist, don’t forget to do your part and participate in the annual Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) comment and review period.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) wants your comments on revisions, additions, and any other improvements we can make to the current content on the ISA site, before we take a snap-shot toward the end of the year, solidifying the 2019 Reference Edition.

We shifted the comment deadline to an earlier date this year to allow for more time to incorporate stakeholder feedback. We also added several new components and functionalities to the ISA, including:

  • the addition of Emergency Medical Services interoperability needs;
  • the incorporation of interoperability needs related to CMS’ Electronic Medical Documentation Interoperability;
  • improvements that allow users to view the ISA as a single page, with the ability to view with or without submitted comments; and
  • RSS feed functionality to track ISA revisions in real-time.

Visit the Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) to review these new updates and provide comments.

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.

ONC will accept public comments for the Interoperability Standards Advisory until 5:00 pm ET on October 1, 2018. Please comment directly on the website in the respective “interoperability need” categories you are reviewing in the ISA using the comment feature. If you prefer, you can submit a consolidated comment letter by attaching it to a comment on the ISA introduction page. Please note a user account is required to submit comments, and can be created by clicking the “Log In” button located at the top right of the page.

This post was originally published on the Health IT Buzz and is syndicated here with permission.