ONC Releases USCDI v2 at a Time When Information Blocking is Still Prevalent
Last week, the ONC released the Draft United States Core Data for Interoperability Version 2 (USCDI v2) with the goal of enhancing interoperability and patient data exchange between patients, providers, and other users.
This effort is result of wide-ranging public input into the elements that should be included to enhance the interoperability of health data, and it focuses on the new areas of care team members, patient encounter information, problems and diagnostic imaging.
This ONC announcement came about days after a Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) study, which found that health systems and EHR vendors are still conducting information blocking practices.
According to this recent EHR Intelligence article, the study surveyed 106 HIEs because they are directly connected to both providers and EHR vendors, and could best assess interoperability and patient data sharing issues.
Here are some of the findings:
42 percent of HIEs said EHR vendors engaged in setting unreasonably high prices, which was the most common information blocking behavior.
55 percent of HIE respondents reported EHR vendors at least sometimes engaged in information blocking.
30 percent of HIEs said health systems at least sometimes engaged in information blocking.
·23 percent of HIEs reported artificial barriers as the second most common behavior among vendors.
14 percent of HIEs reported all EHR vendors engaged in information blocking.
Last summer, we published a podcast interview with Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project, about her organization’s new Information Blocking Compliance Boot Camp, along with dozens of free tools, checklists, reports and webinars from The Sequoia Project and its partners.
Here are the key dates and timelines for the over ONC Interoperability rules – with April 5, 2021 being when developers are officially prohibited from information blocking.
RosettaHealth can assist with any health information challenges you might have, book a free consultation with one of our interoperability experts.