Interoperability's ripple effects
A wave of data transparency has been set in motion and appears to be producing a ripple effect.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the release of open-source health data for researchers and developers and the release of Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT data on EHR use. Making these data accessible is an early step toward interoperability.
Despite this release of federal data, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said it doesn’t go far enough and called for more action to make Medicare claims data fully transparent.
Grassley and Wyden plan to reintroduce the Medicare Data Access for Transparency and Accountability Act (Medicare DATA Act), which would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue regulations to make available a searchable Medicare payment database that the public can access at no cost. The bill also clarifies that data on Medicare payments to physicians and suppliers do not fall under a Freedom of Information Act exemption.
Meanwhile, ONC is seeking several test EHRs for the agency to use in the Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 2 attestation process. As part of the MU Stage 2 transition of care objective, entities will be required to either successfully conduct an electronic exchange of a summary of care document with a recipient using a different EHR technology, or conduct successful tests with the ONC-designated test EHR during the EHR reporting period.
In other interoperability news, the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) has accredited the first vendors through its Direct Trust Agent Accreditation Program (DTAAP), which certifies vendors in best practices using Direct Project protocols for interoperable, secure messaging over the Internet.
The vendors—Cerner, Informatics Corporation of America, MaxMD and Surescripts—received national accreditation for registration authority, certificate authority and health information service provider functions for direct exchange of health information. Direct Project specifications and protocols meet a federal requirement for MU Stage 2, according to EHNAC.
DTAAP was launched in November 2012, and EHNAC anticipates it will have wide-scale industry adoption by the end of 2013.
How are these developments impacting your organization? Please share your experience.
Beth Walsh
Clinical Innovation + Technology editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.