AHA: More details needed for ONC interoperability standards
In August, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) released its draft 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA). The document was intended to be a single, industry-wide catalog of standards and implementation specifics for interoperability in clinical health IT settings.
On Oct. 24, the American Hospital Association (AHA) responded to ONC in a letter that asks for more details about how the organization will assess readiness and implementation specifications.
“The AHA urges ONC to provide more specific information on the characteristics and metrics it has used to assess the readiness of standards and implementation specifications for use in clinical care,” wrote Ashley Thompson, AHA senior vice president of public policy analysis and development.
The AHA’s response outlines four major recommendations for ONC.
- Provide greater detail about the characteristics and metrics used to distinguish between standards that are considered mature and those that are characterized as emerging.
- Include information on the readiness of standards for provider use.
- Disseminate information about the use of identified standards to support interoperability.
- Provide additional information on the characteristics of the standards and implementation specifications.
ONC claims it does not respond to written comments.
Click here to see the AHA’s full letter. ONC’s initial draft ISA can be found here.
Nicholas joined TriMed in 2016 as the managing editor of the Chicago office. After receiving his master’s from Roosevelt University, he worked in various writing/editing roles for magazines ranging in topic from billiards to metallurgy. Currently on Chicago’s north side, Nicholas keeps busy by running, reading and talking to his two cats.