Interoperability roundup: EHI compliance guidance, LOINC updates and more
In early 2023, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology analyzed interoperability and exchange methods between hospitals, which looked at experiences and data from 2017-2021, indicated significant growth in interoperability between hospitals. “As of 2021, 88% of hospitals engaged in electronically sending and obtaining patient health information by requesting or electronically receiving a summary of care records,” ONC said.
ONC’s goal on interoperability barriers – such as the 48% of hospitals reporting one-way sharing relationships in which they share patient data with other providers who do not – will be addressed by the Trusted Exchange Framework and the Common Agreement framework as a universal policy for whole country. interoperability. As for the barriers to information sharing that still exist, there are a lot of moving parts related to the Cures Act.
New LOINC release with 1,945 new concepts
Regenstrief Institute’s Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes is releasing its semi-annual content update with 1,945 new concepts to help healthcare systems, laboratories and other healthcare organizations exchange medical data, according to Tuesday’s announcement.
The release, LOINC version 2.75, features newly created content based on requests submitted by stakeholders from more than 100 countries. It is available free of charge on the LOINC website and through the LOINC Terminology Service using HL7 FHIR.
“Releasing these drafts biannually helps support the exchange and aggregation of clinical results for healthcare delivery,” said Marjorie Rallins, executive director of LOINC and Health Data Standards.
“Users’ ability to download LOINC or use HL7 FHIR for version 2.75 drafts facilitates the seamless movement of healthcare data.”
ONC summarizes the EHI export requirements
Because certified health IT modules must electronically export all electronic health information stored at the time of certification and make the functionality available to end users by December 31 under § 170.315(b)(10), ONC on Tuesday released a quick guide to EHI exports published .
The EHI single-patient export functionality should enable export of patient data at any time without developer assistance, ONC noted in the agency’s blog after.
Similarly, the patient population export functionality must include all available patient population EHI, be exported in an electronic and computable format, and include a publicly accessible hyperlink of the export format. However, EHI export of patient populations may require additional action or support from the certified healthcare IT developer.
In the post, ONC provides information on formats and requirements, as well as additional resources.
ONC said: “A useful process for determining whether a Health IT module needs to be certified is to ask the following questions”:
- Is data stored by the product of which the certified Health IT Module is a part?
- Would that data qualify under the above EHI definition?
If the answer to both questions is yes, the healthcare IT module must be certified.
The Sequoia project will continue as RCE
The Sequoia Project announced Monday that ONC had selected the organization to continue as the recognized coordinating entity for TEFCA.
“The Sequoia Project and our RCE team are extremely proud of TEFCA’s progress to date, and we look forward to making its promise and benefits a reality soon,” said Mariann Yeager, the organization’s CEO, in a statement.
“We could not have gotten this far without working closely with ONC and the candidate (Qualified Health Information Networks).”
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.