As technology continues to evolve and the federal government pushes forward EHR interoperabilityand health IT implementation, providers and vendors will need to ensure the systems they adopt adhere to the latest standards. Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) led a webinar called the “2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria Webinar,” which should help the healthcare community learn more about the standards set forth by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).
The ONC panelists stated the following about the 2015 Health IT Certification Criteria:
“Now as we move towards the care continuum and the largerspectrum of interoperability, we’re thinking about how to support not just the EHR Incentive Programs, not just MU settings, but also those other settings such as long-term and post-acute care or behavioral health. This is a response to the stakeholder feedback we received over the last couple of years via round tables or listening sessions and through our federal advisory committees: the Health Information Policy Committee and the Health Information Standards Committee.”
“So how are we doing that? In the 2015 Edition Proposed Rule, we changed our focus from the EHR module to the health IT module to really think about the broader continuum of health IT and what’s needed to get to interoperability and the key components of health information exchange,” the panelist continued. “The overview of the proposed rule is about better care, smarter spending, and healthier people and that’s something that’s an HHS-wide goal and our goal is through health IT to support those key elements. We’re also building on the foundation that’s already in place – and we’re thinking about interoperability, a key word for the year and highly addressed in terms of our draft roadmap, which was released earlier this year.”
Want to publish your own articles on DistilINFO Publications?
Send us an email, we will get in touch with you.
“What are the specific health IT goals that you will see resonate throughout the rule?” the panelist asks. “Improve interoperability, ensure privacy and security… reduce health disparities… data access and exchange, patient safety, reliability and transparency of certified health IT… and support for EHR Incentive Programs as well as the larger care continuum.”
Clearly, ONC has moved forward in expanding the certification criteria to go beyond digital patient records and focus on the health IT spectrum as a whole. As usual, improving health IT interoperability among the medical industry is a major goal of the federal agency as well.
The latest edition of the health IT certification criteria is meant to create more expansion of health information exchange and connect more providers and patients with access to relevant medical data. ONC continues to focus on engaging providers with Stage 3 Meaningful Use requirements, enhancing privacy and security strategies as well as patient safety, and improving data exchange.
The latest health IT certification standards also allow for EHR vendors to design systems based on the unique needs of specialized medical facilities. The changes in the 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria should lead to improved quality of care, better patient outcomes, and lower costs across the healthcare continuum.
Date: May 8, 2015