barriers to interoperability

See the following -

4 interoperability challenges for healthcare providers

Susan D. Hall | Fierce Health IT | August 4, 2015

To achieve interoperability, much work remains for all healthcare organizations, with many challenges yet to be overcome, according to Lisa Khorey, executive director of EY Advisory Health Care.

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Congress is its own roadblock to interoperability

Marla Durben Hirsch | Fierce EMR | April 8, 2015

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has received a large number of comments on its draft interoperability road map. Some commenters have praised it; others have offered criticisms. Yet, we can't ignore that ONC is not alone at the interoperability drawing board. Both the CommonWell Health Alliance and Carequality, Healtheway's interoperability initiative, are forging ahead with their own initiatives. There also are the health information exchanges, with their different rules, operating models and governance structures.

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Data Blocking Hampers Interoperability, ONC Says

Greg Slabodkin | Health Data Management | April 10, 2015

According to ONC, complaints and other evidence described in the 39-page report “suggest that some persons and entities are interfering with the exchange or use of electronic health information in ways that frustrate the goals of the HITECH Act and undermine broader healthcare reforms.” ONC’s report provides criteria for identifying and distinguishing electronic health information blocking from other barriers to interoperability, and details current and proposed actions...

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EHR Business Environment Must Change to Achieve Interoperability

Greg Slabodkin | Health Data Management | February 4, 2015

The main challenges for the nation’s health IT interoperability are not technical but business related. That’s the word from former National Coordinators for Health IT speaking in a panel session on Tuesday at ONC’s Annual Meeting in Washington. Farzad Mostashari, M.D., former National Coordinator for HIT and currently CEO of start-up Aledade which partners with independent primary care physicians, warned that business practices among some electronic health records vendors are inhibiting the sharing of health information by restricting information exchange with users of other EHR products.

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EHR Data 'Blocking' Hobbles HIT, Says ONC

John Commins | Health Leaders Media | April 13, 2015

Technology vendors, hospitals, and health systems restrict data access under the guise of security and confidentiality, but it can be challenging to identify and differentiate information-blocking from more benign impediments, says an ONC report.

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Fed Advisors Say Data Blocking not Hindering Interoperability

Greg Slabodkin | Health Data Management | August 26, 2015

the task force’s observation flies in the face of an April 2015 report to Congress from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT which highlighted the problem of electronic health information blocking, drawing attention to how both provider and vendor “bad actors” are interfering with data exchange. In its report, ONC argued that some EHR vendors are preventing the exchange of health information with competitors and how some providers engage in information blocking to control referrals and enhance their market dominance over competitors.

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FTC, ONC put vendors on notice

Mike Miliard | Healthcare IT News | October 10, 2014

The Federal Trade Commission has some news for health IT vendors whose zeal for competitive marketshare outweighs their willingness to share data: they're watching, and will step in where necessary. "We are working with ONC staff to identify potential competition issues relating to health IT platforms and standards, market concentration, conduct by market participants, and the ability of health IT purchasers to make informed buying decisions," wrote FTC officials in a blog post this week.

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Halamka's Report on the May 2015 HIT Standards Committee Meeting

The May 2015 HIT Standards Committee focused on an in depth review of the ONC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, with the goal of providing guidance to ONC by June as to which standards should be included in final rule, which should not be included, and which should be identified as directionally appropriate for inclusion in future regulation.The meeting began with the ONC announcement that the HITSC workgroups would be disbanded in June and replaced by focused task forces.

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Health IT Now recommends HHS, Congress take steps against non-interoperable systems

Marla Durben Hirsch | FierceEMR | June 18, 2014

Health IT Now, buoyed by RAND's recent report on electronic health records, has called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Congress to "decertify systems that require additional modules, expenses, and customization to share data," and to investigate business practices that prohibit or restrict data sharing in federal incentive programs.

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John Halamka Uses Big Data Analytics In Healthcare To Fight Wife's Cancer

Kristen Lee | SearchHealthIT | September 1, 2015

When John Halamka, M.D., CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and his wife, Kathy, found out she had stage 3 breast cancer in 2011, they turned to big data analytics in healthcare to find the best treatment plan. Fortunately for Halamka and his wife, the Boston area is home to 17 Harvard-University-affiliated hospitals, including Beth Israel, that have opened their data for queries via a free open source, Web-based application called i2b2. Any medical record system in the country can connect to i2b2's database and EHR, Halamka said.

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Medicity's CEO's Thoughts on Interoperability

Last week I had the esteemed privilege of attending the EHR Interoperability Meeting at the White House with Seema Verma, CMS Administrator, and Don Rucker MD, National Coordinator at ONC. The attendees represented payer organizations, and the discussion was focused on the barriers to interoperability and how we can band together to overcome them. Below are my responses to the major questions asked of each payer. As you read through this information, I hope it further clarifies our position on these topics.

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ONC's Efforts to Advance Worldwide Digital Health - The Global Digital Health Partnership White Papers

As the world responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to see how digital health plays a vital role in care delivery. ONC recognizes the importance of advancing digital health at domestic and global levels. As discussed in a previous blog post, part of ONC's global engagement includes representing the United States in the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP). The GDHP currently runs five work streams: Interoperability, Clinical and Consumer Engagement, Cyber Security, Evidence and Evaluation, and Policy Environments.

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