Are plans for 'aggressive' HIE enough?

The calls for interoperability standards increased in volume in the past weeks, even as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office for the National Coordinator of Health IT presented their strategy for “aggressive, accelerated” health information exchange.

During the agencies’ webinar, Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, national coordinator of health IT,  said despite the efforts made regarding accountable care, bundled payments and health homes, “we recognize it is not enough. We want to signal clearly our commitment to the concept that patients’ information should flow wherever the patient goes. Coordination should be rewarded. We wish to communicate as clearly as possible that we intend to develop and implement a set of policies and programs that encourage providers to routinely exchange health information through an interoperable system in support of care coordination across healthcare settings.”

The agencies issued a request for information earlier this year which asked for input on policies and practices that can strengthen the business case for HIE. The RFI also signals that the agencies recognize that the incentive programs are necessary but not sufficient to achieve widespread HIE. “The goal of the RFI is to have you inform our policies and programs and to really spark action quickly as delivery and payment reform is depending on this capability being present.”

Mostashari said there is a lot of confusion about HIE and interoperability, and reiterated that there is a road map for information to be exchanged and used, but that there needed to be a better way to communicate it. He also said stakeholders need to educate themselves on what is happening and “we need to do a better job of creating easy to understand resources. Part of why we’re here is because this is complicated. But, we are making progress.”

Since the webinar, there have been grumblings that the government is not doing enough. What do you think of the plans for interoperability?

Beth Walsh

Clinical Innovation + Technology editor