HHS, Epic, Cerner, more EHR vendors make interoperability pledge

At a keynote address during the 2016 HIMSS Conference and Exhibition, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced a broad industry initiative to further health data interoperability, information sharing, and patient engagement. More than a dozen professional organizations, the five largest healthcare systems in the country, and electronic health vendors representing 90 percent of the EHR market in the United States have all agreed to implement three core principles to reduce information blocking, increase patient access to their own health data, and embrace national interoperability standards, including those related to privacy and security.