ONC app initiative a 'strategic investment' in FHIR-based apps
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has announced a $625,000 strategic investment to connect and accelerate the industry's use of FHIR-based APIs for consumers and providers.
The initiative aims "to spur the development of market-ready, user-friendlly approaches," according to a blog post written by National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc.
ONC's strategy has the following three goals:
- Help Consumers Get and Use their Data. In this first challenge contest, prizes will be awarded to consumer-facing apps that use open, standardized APIs to help consumers aggregate their data in one place that is under their control. Prizes will total up to $175,000.
- Improve User-Experience and Utility for Providers. In this second challenge contest, prizes will be awarded to apps that use open, standardized APIs to positively impact providers’ experience with EHRs by making clinical workflows more intuitive, specific to clinical specialty, and actionable. Prizes will total up to $175,000.
- Coordinate Open Information About EHR App Solutions. This third coordinated action aims to help providers choose the technology that best fits their needs and workflow. ONC has published a $275,000 funding opportunity announcement that will support the development of an app discovery site that makes it easier for developers to publish their apps and for providers to discover and compare them.
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.