What’s Happening at the ONC – 12/19/22

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Posted By: HHS/ONC/CMS Communications December 19, 2022

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.

Listen

Listen as Dr. Jay Anders, host of Tell Me Where IT Hurts interviews the National Coordinator for Health IT at HHS, Micky Tripathi, PhD, MPP. Micky returns to update us on the progress the ONC has made this year. He discusses where we are with information blocking, the complexities of information blocking penalties, USCDI, and TEFCA.

Events

Health IT Advisory Committee
Thursday, 1/19/23, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm ET

2022 ONC Virtual Tech Forum – Now on Demand!

As in years past, this year’s all-virtual 2022 ONC Tech Forum will feature industry perspectives on the progress made in health IT over the past year, and highlight how we can continue to advance health technology to improve patient care, health equity, data exchange, and interoperability.

Watch The Tech Forum On-Demand Now

Now Available: The 2022 ONC Annual Meeting Recordings & Presentations!

Want to revisit a session or attend a breakout session you weren’t able to watch from the virtual 2022 ONC Annual Meeting? You can now access all recorded sessions and presentations!

Check out the 2022 ONC Annual Meeting Sessions and Materials On-Demand.

News & Announcements

Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) Selected as Sync for Genes Phase 5 Demonstration Site
CHLA was selected to participate in Phase 5 of Sync for Genes to demonstrate interoperable sharing and interpretation of annotated genomic variants at the point-of-care.

The project will use Global Alliance for Genomic Health (GA4GH) and FHIR® standards to facilitate more complete data exchange which better supports the application of genomics research in clinical settings. Sharing of annotated genomic variants between clinicians and knowledge bases also enables computerized clinical decision support (CDS) that can help clinicians understand how to utilize genomic data and research in a clinical setting. Read More About Sync for Genes.

ONC's Cures Act Final Rule

In May of 2020 the 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program released by the ONC and published in the Federal Register. Here is a quick timeline.

Certification

  • 6/30/20 – General Effective Date
  • 4/5/21 – Compliance requirements start for information blocking, assurance, and API
  • 4/5/21 – HIT developers prohibited from restricting certain communications
  • 12/15/21 – Submit initial real world testing plans
  • 4/1/22 – 1st attestation to conditions of Cert required
  • 12/31/22 – New HL7 FHIR API capability and other update criteria must be made available
  • 3/15/23 – Submit initial real world testing results
  • 12/31/23 – EHI export capability must be made available

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:

Spotlighting Interoperability Proving Ground Programs

The Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG) is an open, community platform where you can share, learn, and be inspired by interoperability projects taking place across the nation. ONC is asking those working on COVID-19 interoperability projects to share your project on the IPG and tag it with #COVID-19. We’re reviewing every entry to identify opportunities for connection and collaboration among the community on these critical efforts.

The Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG) Spotlight project of the week is: Argonaut Phase 2 Implementation & Testing – Developing a Web Based Client – This is a personal project to test the FHIR and Security standards, that are currently being tested as part of the Argonaut Phase 2 Implementation & Testing Project. The project is currently developing a web based client that connects securely (via SMART OAuth2 profiles) to various FHIR servers that are being deployed by participants of the Argonaut project. Once the Argonaut phase 2 implementation is completed, the application will be deployed on the internet.

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.