“Today, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published the draft 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) for public comment. The ISA is a coordinated catalog of standards and implementation specifications that are available for use by the health information technology (health IT) industry to meet interoperability needs. It is a key element of ONC’s continued implementation of the Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap and directly supports the Interoperability Commitments that leading health IT developers, providers, and professional associations and stakeholder groups made earlier this year to adopt ‘federally recognized, national interoperability standards, policies, guidance, and practices for electronic health information.’
“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.”
Public comments on a draft of the 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory will be accepted until October 24, 2016.
The ONC continues to work on hammering out interoperability solutions for the industry. It’s good that they continue to open up the process to hospitals and vendors — whose jobs are most affected by any new mandates the ONC puts into place.
This long process reminds us of the quote: “A Volvo is a Porche designed by committee.”
Standards development is no party. Because there are so many stakeholders involved in healthcare – providers, insurers, researchers, vendors, businesses, and more – each point of view must be taken into consideration.
Which begs the question: Should the government be responsible for designating health data standards? Or, should it be left to free market forces to determine a winner?
There are good points to be made on both sides of that argument. We prefer, however, the integration engine approach to health data interoperability. Corepoint Health customers know that regardless of data standard in use, health data integration and exchange will always be possible using Corepoint Integration Engine. There’s no need to wait for a government mandate. Take control of your health data and improve patient care today.
