The Office of the National Coordinator for IT on Dec. 20 released its Interoperability Standards Advisory for 2017, collecting essential standards and implementation specifications for technology developers and clinicians to know.
Whether they're required by specific federal programs or simply useful to furthering the spread of interoperability, these specs are all meant to enable easier sharing of clinical data, says ONC.
"The ISA is a key step toward achieving the goals we have outlined with our public and private sector partners in the Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, as well as the Interoperability Pledge announced earlier this year," said National Coordinator Vindell Washington, MD, in a statement.
[Also: Burwell: EHR giants Epic, Cerner, Meditech among those taking pledge to standardize health IT]
That Interoperability Pledge, first announced at HIMSS16 in Las Vegas, saw electronic health record vendors with products installed in 90 percent of U.S. hospitals promise to follow three core commitments to interoperability: to use standardized APIs, make it easier for patients to access their data and not block information.
The 2017 ISA - an update to the 2016 version released a year ago and the draft 2017 version published this past August - aims to help vendors and providers achieve these goals, said Washington.
"We incorporated detailed stakeholder feedback to provide a consolidated, public list of standards and specifications that can be put to use to address clinical, public health and research needs for sharing electronic health information," he said.
ONC recently moved the ISA to an interactive online platform, to help those across the industry better engage with and shape its content on an ongoing basis. It offers real-time updates and comments, as well as links to projects included in the Interoperability Proving Ground that might be use specific ISA-referenced standards.
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Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com