National HIT Week packs in the headlines

National Health IT Week has set a precedent for solidly putting the spotlight on EHRs, interoperability, telemedicine and more related to electronic information in healthcare but the developments occurring this week might just take the cake. 

Here are the three biggies:

Final rule for Meaningful Use Stage 3: After debate about the incentive program all year, the final rule responds to much of the criticism by addressing concerns regarding reporting burden, interoperability and reporting periods. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) said the rule "adds new flexibilities for providers to make electronic health information available when and where it matters most and for healthcare providers and consumers to be able to readily, safely and securely exchange that information."

The rule allows providers to choose the measures of progress that are most meaningful to their practice and gives them more time to implement changes to program requirements. Providers are encouraged to apply for hardship exceptions if they need to switch or have other technology difficulties with their EHR vendor. Additionally, the new rule gives developers more time to create user-friendly technologies that give individuals easier access to their information so they can be engaged and empowered in their care.

The final version of the Interoperability Roadmap: The roadmap “lays out the milestones, calls to action and commitments that public and private stakeholders should focus on achieving,” according to National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, and Erica Galvez, ONC’s Interoperability and Exchange Portfolio Manager.

 ONC worked with federal partners to develop the plan, which illustrates how federal initiatives and programs help people, populations and communities achieve health and well-being through the use of health information and health IT. Finalizing and implementing the roadmap falls into Goal 4 of the Federal Strategic Health IT Plan which aims to enhance the nation’s health IT infrastructure. The ISA represents the model by which ONC will coordinate the identification, assessment and determination of the best available interoperability standards and implementation specifications for clinical health IT.

In the near-term, the collaboration of stakeholders to fulfill the calls to action and commitments is critical to advancing nationwide interoperability.  Over time our collective efforts will shift to expand the interoperable health IT ecosystem to include other data sources and users that form a learning health system that puts the person at the center, can continuously improve care, public health and science through real-time data access.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) held its 2015 Research Conference: The proposed 2016 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) called for the termination of AHRQ funding but the agency's director and others used their time to share AHRQ's successes. 

Director Richard Kronick, PhD, said AHRQ’s budget represents one 1/100 ^th of a percent of national health expenditures. “That’s a minuscule investment in making the remaining 99.99 percent of healthcare safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable and affordable. The work AHRQ does is more needed than ever.”