What’s Happening at the ONC – 7-04-22

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.

EHI Sharing Workshop
When: Thursday, August 4, 2022 – 1:00 – 5:00 pm ET
Register for this event.

Join ONC for a healthcare provider-focused listening session and guided discussion on opportunities and challenges related to sharing Electronic Health Information (EHI). During this workshop, participants will explore approaches and lessons learned related to sharing whatever EHI is needed, when and where it is needed, within the context of applicable laws.

Health IT Advisory Committee
Wednesday, 8/17/22, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm ET

TEFCA: Register for RCE Stakeholder Sessions
TEFCA is here! ONC and the Sequoia Project, the Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE), recently announced the publication of the Trusted Exchange Framework and the Common Agreement (TEFCA), marking the beginning of the implementation phase. The RCE and ONC are hosting public advisory forums for community and stakeholder input as TEFCA is implemented. Don’t miss these upcoming webinars!

• TEFCA RCE Monthly Informational Call
  • Third Tuesday of Each Month | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET

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.

New Funding Announcement: 2022 LEAP in Health IT NOFO Released
The Leading Edge Acceleration Projects (LEAP) in Health IT program has issued a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for 2022 LEAP in Health IT projects. The NOFO will support projects that address health equity and social determinants of health through open-source tools and electronic health records, as well as demonstrate the use of equity-enhancing patient generated health data. You can find the full NOFO on our newly refreshed LEAP in Health IT webpage. View the 2022 LEAP in Health IT NOFO. View the Updated LEAP in Health IT Webpage.

U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Seeking Nominations for Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC)
GAO is now accepting nominations for HITAC appointments. From these nominations, GAO expects to appoint at least four new HITAC members, focusing especially on patients or consumers, health care providers, ancillary health care workers, and individuals with technical expertise on health care quality, system functions, privacy, security, and the electronic exchange and use of health information. Members serve 3-year terms beginning January 1, 2023, with the terms subject to renewal, not to exceed six years on the committee. Interested nominees should submit letters of nominations and resumes to HITCommittee@gao.gov no later than July 22, 2022.

Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances Among Office-Based Physicians, 2017-2019
Electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) technology enables clinicians to securely transmit prescriptions for controlled substances to a pharmacy. Our new data brief examines the adoption of EPCS among physicians who prescribe controlled substances, and how physicians’ use of EPCS differs by practice size and ownership, specialty, geographic location, and frequency of controlled substance prescriptions. Read the Data Brief.

Introducing Leidos as a new ONC-Authorized Testing Laboratory (ONC-ATL)
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is pleased to announce that Leidos, Inc. (Leidos) has been granted status as an ONC-Authorized Testing Laboratory (ONC-ATL) in the ONC Health IT Certification Program (Program). Leidos now becomes one of four organizations to hold current ONC-ATL status alongside Drummond Group, ICSA Labs, and SLI Compliance.

Synthetic Health Data to Accelerate PCOR Project
The Synthetic Health Data Generation to Accelerate Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) project final report is now available. The report draws upon the perspectives of actively engaged users and contributors to identify opportunities and considerations to enhance the capabilities of Synthea TM, an open-source synthetic health data generation engine. This project is one facet of ONC’s continuing efforts to help build a PCOR data infrastructure and provide researchers and health IT developers access to a low-risk, readily available synthetic data source. Read the Final Report.

HITAC Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2021
The Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) has transmitted the HITAC Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2021 to the HHS Secretary and Congress. Required by the 21st Century Cures Act, this fourth edition of the HITAC annual report describes the HITAC’s progress during fiscal year 2021. The annual report also describes the health IT and health care industries’ progress in advancing the health IT infrastructure in several target areas: use of technologies that support public health, interoperability, privacy and security, and patient access to information. View the Report.

New Tool Announced – Inferno Redesigned: Easier, Faster, Extensible
ONC announced the update of the Inferno Framework and the (g)(10) Standardized API Test Kit, the new version of the testing method for the § 170.315(g)(10) certification criterion adopted as part of the ONC Health IT Certification Program. Visit the Health IT Buzz Blog to learn more about this new edition of Inferno. Check Out the Tool.

New Information Sharing FAQ
ONC issued a new Frequently Asked Question (FAQ): In which patient-access cases does the Preventing Harm Exception recognize “substantial harm”? (IB.FAQ42.1.2022FEB) This FAQ includes a table showing the type of harm recognized under the Preventing Harm Exception for different patient access scenarios where the risk of harm has been determined on an individual basis. ONC continues to make resources available to help stakeholders understand information sharing and promote the secure access, exchange, and use of EHI. Review the FAQ.

Two Virtual Event Recordings Now Available
ONC Health IT Developer Certification & Testing Roundtable. View the recording and slides.
ONC Lantern Workshop. View the recording and slides.

NEW Approved Standards for 2022! Check out the latest blog post to learn what new standards have been released this year! #FHIR @HL7 https://t.co/hz8bqojIDH pic.twitter.com/1ykhdGJFxT

— ONC (@ONC_HealthIT) June 28, 2022

Updated SRA Tool!
ONC and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) have released version 3.3 of the popular HHS Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Tool. This tool is designed to aid small and medium sized health care organizations in their efforts to assess security risks. The latest version of the SRA Tool contains a variety of feature enhancements based on user feedback and public input. New features include the incorporation of Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP) references, file association in Windows, improved reports, and other bug fixes and stability improvements.

Also, new this year is the SRA Tool Excel Workbook. This alternative version of the SRA Tool takes the same content from the Windows desktop application and presents it in a familiar spreadsheet format. The Excel Workbook contains conditional formatting and formulas to calculate and help identify risk in a similar fashion to the SRA Tool application. This version of the SRA Tool is intended to replace the legacy “Paper Version” and may be a good option for users who do not have access to Microsoft Windows. Visit the SRA Tool Webpage.

ONC Health IT Certification Program New Resource Available
The ONC Health IT Certification Program has released a new fact sheet for Real World Testing requirements of the ONC Cures Act Final Rule. The fact sheet describes Real World Testing requirements for Health IT Developers participating in the ONC Health IT Certification Program. This resource will assist the Health IT Developer community in understanding how the requirements outlined in the ONC 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule apply to them and provide a practical overview of the Real World Testing Condition and Maintenance of Certification requirements. View the Fact Sheet.

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:

• • Key Themes from HITAC Hearing on Health Equity by Design
  • What’s New in the 2022 Approved Standards via Standards Version Advancement Process
  • FAST Continues FHIR Scalability Work as a New HL7 FHIR Accelerator
  • Sharing Genomic Data for Patient Care – Sync for Genes Phase 4 Wraps Up
  • ONC Launches New HITAC Adopted Standards Task Force
  • Getting the Best out of Algorithms in Health Care
  • APIs for Research: Perspectives from App Developers and Data Integrators
  • Using Health IT to Support Safer Use and Management of Controlled Substance Prescriptions
  • 13 Areas to Improve Electronic Prior Authorization

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.

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.