Movement Toward Interoperability Continues With Release Of 2017 Draft Guidance
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
ONC calls for input from stakeholders on the drafted guidance.
HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology released an updated list of standards for health IT interoperability. The draft links to active projects listed in ONC’s Interoperability Proving Ground that use specific standards or implementation blueprints, and more clearly pairs standards for observations with ones for observation values.
The ISA is a key component of ONC’s nationwide interoperability roadmap and supports the interoperability commitments adopted by providers, health IT developers and other stakeholders earlier this year. The announcement marks the first step in transitioning the Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) to an interactive online platform, allowing for more real-time updates and comments, ONC said.
In the blog post, Steven Posnack, Director of Office of Standards and Technology, and Chris Muir, Director HIT Infrastructure and Innovation Division, Offices of Standards & Technology, wrote “In short, by providing the industry with a single, public list of the standards and implementation specifications that can be consistently used to fulfill specific clinical interoperability needs, we hope to spur more seamless and secure flow of information across the health system. The input and feedback we have received from across the health IT spectrum on earlier ISA versions has helped us continue to shape the ISA into an effective resource and guide for all who are engaged in interoperability work.”
The goal is to “shift the ISA experience form a static, PDF to an interactive, wiki style product that stakeholders can more fully engage with and shape” to enable more efficient updates and comments and the addition of hyperlinks to projects in the Interoperability Proving Ground that are using a particular ISA-referenced standard.
ONC stated that “The Draft 2016 Interoperability Standards Advisory remains focused on clinical health information technology (IT) interoperability and its updates and improvements are due largely to recommendations received from public comments and the Health IT Standards Committee.”
ONC will be accepting public comments on the draft guidance until October 24, 2016.