Interoperability
When Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell snagged national coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, to help in the Ebola fight, neither entity said whether she would return to ONC or stay on as acting assistant secretary at HHS over the long term. It turns out that she will continue her ONC work in several ways even while assigned to the Ebola detail.
The American Medical Association released a statement Monday that points to the organization's concern over the recent departure of key leaders from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The ONC exits most recently include the coordinator herself, Karen DeSalvo, MD.
The topic at the Cleveland Clinic annual summit this Monday was healthcare innovation -- what's impeding it, what more is needed to foster it and the innovation milestones taking place today. It may come as no surprise: Health IT came up a lot at this year's event. (And, yes, so did Judy Faulkner.)
Charles Jaffe, MD, CEO of standards organization HL7, came away from the joint meeting of the federal Health IT Policy and Health IT Standards committees earlier this week, thinking that the industry could move faster on interoperability. And HL7 has just the thing to change the game.
The overarching message delivered to joint HIT Policy and Standards Committees by the JASON task force on Oct. 15: The government should "act with urgency" to encourage and motivate the healthcare industry, using whatever mechanisms available, to fuel interoperability through meaningful use.
ONC's work to drive interoperability is under perhaps more intense scrutiny than ever. Yet, a sense emerged on Wednesday morning during a meeting of the joint HIT Policy and Standards Committees that, while much work remains, the notion that there is no interoperability in America is wrong.
A coalition of healthcare associations today called on HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell to revamp the meaningful use program. "Without changes to the MU program and a new emphasis for interoperable EHRs/EMRs systems and HIT infrastructure, we believe that the opportunity to leverage these technologies will not be realized," the organizations wrote.
The Federal Trade Commission has some news for health IT vendors whose zeal for competitive marketshare outweighs their willingness to share data: They're watching, and will step in where necessary.
Health IT infrastructure has made significant progress in recent years, with EHR adoption among hospitals and physicians growing. However, the development of health information exchanges and interoperability - needed to provide more effective care - still has a long way to go.
It may not come as any surprise: Electronic health record vendors don't play well with others. At least that's according to healthcare providers who say, in the lion's share of cases, their EHR is not interoperable with others.