The first draft of the document identifies critical actions toward improving the way providers are paid and how information is shared more broadly and securely.
The federal government has issued a non-binding "draft Roadmap" that policymakers will use to identify technological standards for interoperability functions.
Draft 1.0 of the roadmap, released Friday, is the result of months of input from HIT experts and policymakers across the nation, and National Coordinator for HIT Karen DeSalvo, MD, pledged continued cooperation with all players across the healthcare spectrum as the process moved forward.
"To realize better care and the vision of a learning health system, we will work together across the public and private sectors to clearly define standards, motivate their use through clear incentives, and establish trust in the health IT ecosystem through defining the rules of engagement," DeSalvo said in prepared remarks.
"We look forward to working collaboratively and systematically with federal, state, and private sector partners to see that electronic health information is available when and where it matters."
Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services has placed its focus on three areas:
- Improving the way providers are paid;
- Improving and innovating in care delivery
- Sharing information more broadly to providers, consumers, and others to support better decisions while maintaining privacy.
The draft Roadmap identifies critical actions to achieve success in sharing information and interoperability and outlines a timeframe for implementation.
Industry Reaction
Reaction to the guidelines Friday was positive from key players in the HIT sector.
Keith J. Figlioli, senior vice president of healthcare informatics at Premier Inc., said the roadmap "represents a leap forward in the evolution of HIT.
"With this roadmap, members of Premier remain hopeful that we will finally create strong policies that incent open source infrastructure and application programming interfaces to enable new applications that healthcare providers desperately need," Figlioli said in a media release.
"With interoperability standards, providers will be in a much better position to manage population health across the care continuum and support HHS's new initiative to transition away from fee-for-service in favor of shared savings and bundled payment."
Russell P. Branzell, president of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, called the guidelines "a much-needed playbook for each and every health IT professional."
"Now, healthcare providers and health IT developers have a single source of truth, with an extensible process to align clinical standards towards improved interoperability, efficiency and patient safety," Branzell said. "While we have made great strides as a nation to improve EHR adoption, we must pivot towards true interoperability based on clear, defined, and enforceable standards."
John Commins is the news editor for HealthLeaders.