A new report from the Health Innovation Alliance (HIA) offers a series of solutions to improve interoperability and use of health care data that have the potential to “shepherd in an era of new medical innovation and precision medicine.” The ACC, along with 40 other organizations and industry stakeholders, were part of the HIA Interoperability Workgroup that helped to inform the report and its recommendations.

Overall, the report includes six primary recommendations for improving how health care data is shared and meeting the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s goal of improving interoperability in health care by 2030. The solution calls for:

1. Data that works for patients and providers at the point of care
2. Leveraging state-of-the-art medical devices to improve patient care
3. Establishing clear protections from HIPAA penalties for patient information requests
4. Informing medical research and innovation with better information
5. Addressing social determinants of health
6. Improving public health data collection and reporting

“The promise of interoperability in health care is still very real, even though it has yet to be fully realized. By improving adoption and functionality in existing systems like [electronic health records] and expanding interoperability efforts to other areas of health care, like public health and medical devices, we will begin to approach a truly liquid environment of usable health information,” the report states. It goes on to note that stakeholders “at every end of the U.S. health care system stand to benefit from full implementation of the recommendations.”

Read the full report. Access ACC’s Information Blocking Portal for additional information on this topic.

Keywords: Biomedical Research, Delivery of Health Care, Patient Care, Medical Informatics, Social Determinants of Health, Precision Medicine, Point-of-Care Systems, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Public Health, Electronic Health Records, ACC Advocacy

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