Adoption and interoperability of electronic health records continue to be a primary focus of efforts by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
“There will be a strong emphasis on interoperability,” said Dr. Karen DeSalvo, National Coordinator for Health IT, during a press conference Dec. 8 to release the updated Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020.
Dr. Karen DeSalvo
Dr. DeSalvo noted that the federal government aims to make data usable across the spectrum of health care – on a one-on-one basis between doctors and patients, all the way to using Big Data to help advance population health objectives. She also emphasized a need for data to be interoperable to help individuals to become “engaged, empowered, [and] real partners in their health and health care and that is, I think an exciting frontier for all of us.”
Specific details on how ONC plans to address interoperability going forward will come with the agency’s release of its interoperability road map, expected in the early part of 2015. An overview of that road map was released earlier this year.
The plan emphasizes efforts to reach health care providers who are currently not eligible for financial incentives under the current meaningful use program.
Other goals identified in the plan include strengthening the health care delivery system; advancing the health and well-being of individuals and communities; and advancing research, scientific knowledge, and innovation.
The plan also targets technology beyond EHRs to include other types of health IT applications, such as telehealth, and calls for looking at other incentives that the 35 federal agencies who contributed to the plan can offer beyond the meaningful use program to help continue the adoption and use of health IT.
Public comments on this strategic plan are due Feb. 6, 2015.