ONC introduces new population health effort
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has cut the ribbon on a new initiative to query EHRs for population health data.
Given the moniker Query Health, its vision is to “enable a learning health system to understand population measures of health, performance, disease and quality, while respecting patient privacy, to improve patient and population health and reduce costs,” according to presentation slides from the ONC.
As the U.S. reaches a critical mass of deployed EHRs with greater standardization of information in support of health information exchange and quality measure reporting, there is an opportunity to further understand population health, performance and quality, as noted in the Sept. 6 ONC slides.
“Network data partners will execute the query against a standard clinical information model and securely return the results of the query to the requester,” Farzad Mostashari, national coordinator for ONC, wrote in an Aug. 17 HealthIT Buzz blog entry. “Standards will also include sustainability and extensibility for the clinical information model, as well as the terminology that enables the queries and results expression.”
This initiative seeks to provide population analyses to inform both clinical and payment strategies in health systems and physician practices, in alignment with the HITECH and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts, Mostashari said, noting that the initiative providers can calculate quality measures for populations.
According to the post, Query Health will also leverage the standards and policies of meaningful use and health information exchange.
Doug Fridsma, director of standards and interoperability at ONC, stated in a Sept. 6 webinar—launching the initiative—that the agency hopes to be ready for pilot projects by April 2012.
Registration is available here.
Given the moniker Query Health, its vision is to “enable a learning health system to understand population measures of health, performance, disease and quality, while respecting patient privacy, to improve patient and population health and reduce costs,” according to presentation slides from the ONC.
As the U.S. reaches a critical mass of deployed EHRs with greater standardization of information in support of health information exchange and quality measure reporting, there is an opportunity to further understand population health, performance and quality, as noted in the Sept. 6 ONC slides.
“Network data partners will execute the query against a standard clinical information model and securely return the results of the query to the requester,” Farzad Mostashari, national coordinator for ONC, wrote in an Aug. 17 HealthIT Buzz blog entry. “Standards will also include sustainability and extensibility for the clinical information model, as well as the terminology that enables the queries and results expression.”
This initiative seeks to provide population analyses to inform both clinical and payment strategies in health systems and physician practices, in alignment with the HITECH and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts, Mostashari said, noting that the initiative providers can calculate quality measures for populations.
According to the post, Query Health will also leverage the standards and policies of meaningful use and health information exchange.
Doug Fridsma, director of standards and interoperability at ONC, stated in a Sept. 6 webinar—launching the initiative—that the agency hopes to be ready for pilot projects by April 2012.
Registration is available here.