Interoperability

Over the past several years, substantial strides have been made to exchange data across different settings of care, yet there are persisting challenges and barriers – some policy-related, some business-related and some technical. The 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act), passed in late 2016, contains several provisions aimed at speeding and facilitating better electronic information exchange; however, the federal government is still working to lay out these policies. While many policies, whether voluntary or mandatory, can help drive better information exchange, CHIME continues to assert that a national patient ID solution and a more concrete set of standards are needed to spur progress toward an interoperable healthcare delivery system.

Promoting Interoperability

CHIME Top Recommendation to Policymakers

Drive the identification and use of standards in priority areas to ensure providers are capturing and exchanging data in the same fashion.

Key Advocacy Accomplishments in 2018

  • Enactment of Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which removes the requirement that Meaningful Use program must get harder over time
  • Meaningful Use program reoriented and renamed the Promoting Interoperability, resulting in fewer measures and objectives, aligning hospital requirements with clinician requirements, and a 90-day reporting period moving forward
  • Several efforts focus on reducing burdens for providers

On the Horizon for 2019 – Look for:

  • The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to continue taking a more active role in spurring interoperability
  • Continued focus by CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) on reducing burdens for clinicians
  • Ongoing focus by the Hill on the agency’s efforts to implement health IT provisions in the Cures Act
  • The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and ONC to define what “data blocking” is not as mandated by the Cures Act
  • A revised draft voluntary framework to drive interoperability as mandated under the Cures Act
  • Widespread use of 2015 Edition of Certified EHRs, including the use of application programming interfaces (APIs)
  • Significant focus, building on required use of APIs, around consumer access to their health data
  • More CMS policies aimed at speeding interoperability across settings beyond hospitals and physician offices

Promoting Interoperability Advocacy (formerly known as Meaningful Use)

Legislative Briefs

Cheat Sheets

Letters to the Administration

Congressional Letters & Testimony

ONC Resources

CMS Resources