What’s Happening at the ONC – 1-18-19

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Posted By: Roberta Mullin January 18, 2019

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is at the forefront of the administration’s health IT efforts and is a resource to the entire health system to support the adoption of health information technology and the promotion of nationwide health information exchange to improve health care. ONC is organizationally located within the Office of the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Here is what they are doing and reporting. Follow them @ONC_HealthIT. Sign up for their email updates.

ONC at HIMSS19

Make sure to add the following ONC education sessions to your HIMSS schedule:

  • Tuesday, February 12, 12pm – 1pm, Room W307A, Session #27: Policy Update from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT
  • Wednesday, February 13, 1:00-2:00pm, Room W307A, Session #147: Approaching Persistent Problems in Health IT Though Science
  • Thursday, February 14, 8:30-9:30am, Chapin Theater (Room 320), Session #206: ONC Town Hall
  • Thursday February 14, 2:30-3:30pm, Room W307A, Session #267 – Standards & Technology Update from ONC
News

Comment Today: Draft Strategy to Reduce Health IT Burden
ONC issued a draft Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs. The draft addresses concerns shared by clinicians and other stakeholders that EHR burden can negatively affect provider satisfaction and ultimately the care delivery experience. The document is available for public comment until 11:59 pm ET on January 28, 2019.

Report to Congress
ONC released its 2018 Report to Congress: Annual Update on the Adoption of a Nationwide System for the Electronic Use and Exchange of Health Information. The report describes barriers, actions taken, and recommendations as well as ONC’s path forward to implement the 21st Century Cures Act. This includes priorities of increasing nationwide interoperability of health information and reducing clinician burden.

Interoperability Standards Advisory
Since the 2018 comment period on the Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) closed on October 1 and improvements were made based on the suggestions. If you’re new to the ISA, you will find it contains a variety of standards and implementation specifications curated by developers, standards gurus, and other stakeholders to meet interoperability needs in healthcare.

Read

From the Health IT Buzz Blog – Learn more about HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Check out the latest blog posts:

Events

Health IT Advisory Committee Upcoming Meetings
The next Health IT Advisory Committee meeting will be held January 23, 2019.

Highlights from the 2018 ONC Annual Meeting

Spotlighting Interoperability Proving Ground Programs

The Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG) Spotlight project of the week is Netsmart. Through this pilot project, Netsmart expects to connect home health agencies to their partnering hospital systems in an effort to document order forms and send and receive referrals.

Learn how your interoperability project can be featured as an IPG Spotlight by visiting the Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG). Once a project is submitted or updated, projects will automatically be added to the feature queue to be randomly selected as a featured project.

ONC Interoperability Pledge

Companies that provide 90 percent of electronic health records used by hospitals nationwide as well as the top five largest health care systems in the country have agreed to implement three core commitments: Consumer Access, No Blocking/Ensuring Transparency, and Standards. The ONC (@ONC_HealthIT) wants vendors to sign a pledge. Is your vendor pledging? Find out who is on the list.