On Feb. 11, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released two proposed rules supporting the seamless and secure access, exchange and use of electronic health information.

The proposed rules follow requirements in the 21st Century Cures Act, directing ONC and CMS to develop policies that foster interoperability through data sharing and identify activities that do not constitute information blocking. Additionally, the rules would increase choice and competition while promoting innovation to expand patient access to and control over their health information.

Under the proposed rule, ONC seeks to implement requirements for health information technology developers through the agency's Health IT Certification Program to define reasonable and necessary activities that do not constitute information blocking in health IT systems and establish the voluntary certification of health IT for use by pediatric health care providers.

CMS' proposal includes several policy changes, as part of its MyHealthEData initiative, seeking to make patient data more useful and transferable through open, secure, standardized and machine-readable formats while reducing restrictive burdens on health care providers.

Review fact sheets for each of the proposed rules below:

• Interoperability, Information Blocking and the ONC Health IT Certification Program Proposed Rule Fact Sheets
• CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Proposed Rule Fact Sheet

The College is committed to reducing undue administrative burdens related to the use of electronic health records (EHRs) by supporting efforts to increase EHR interoperability, as mapped out in ACC's Health Policy Principles.

ACC staff will further review the proposed rules to identify additional topics of interest to ACC members in the coming days. Alex Azar, MD, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and other CMS and ONC leaders, are scheduled to present on these proposed rules at the 2019 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in Orlando. More information will be forthcoming in the Advocate newsletter, on Twitter and on ACC.org.

Keywords: ACC Advocacy, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S., Medicare, Medicaid, Medical Informatics, United States Dept. of Health and Human Services, Electronic Health Records, Health Policy

< Back to Listings