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News & Updates
May 13, 2021
ONC’s Cures Act Final Rule Sets Path for New Healthcare Industry Standards
It has been over a year since ONC’s Cures Act Final Rule was first released and since then ONC has been busy advancing the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) and enabling the healthcare industry to voluntarily implement newer versions of adopted standards via the Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) for the purposes of the ONC Health IT Certification.
Information Blocking Through the Eyes of Health Information Exchanges
A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association reports on a survey of health information exchanges’ (HIEs) perceptions of other stakeholders’ practices related to information blocking. Results indicate that there is a perception that practices that may constitute information blocking are common and underline the need for further assessment to determine whether they would meet the information blocking definition laid out in the 21st Century Cures Act and further implemented by ONC’s information blocking regulations.
Call for Public Comments –
Digital Bridge’s Public Health API White Paper
The Digital Bridge Collaborative Body approved the Public Health API White Paper as version 1.0 at this past January’s annual meeting. A second public comment period is now open and runs through June 30, 2021. The Digital Bridge API White Paper workgroup is open to all comments, and specifically seeks feedback on how APIs operate within existing systems, an expansion of the FHIR section, and the healthcare/provider perspective.
Women’s Health and Implementing the
21st Century Cures Act
As we celebrate Women’s Health Week, we wanted to share some of the ways that ONC’s work directly impacts women of all ages, in every part of the country.
Informational Forum for the 999, Implementation Acknowledgment for Health Care Insurance (007030X335) and the 824, Application Reporting for Insurance (007030X321)
X12 will conduct an informational forum related to the above technical reports on Monday, June 7, 2021 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time.
Measuring time clinicians spend using EHRs in the inpatient setting: a national, mixed-methods study
53% of hospitals reported using EHR data to track clinician time documenting, compared to 68% of the hospitals using the EHR from the top 3 vendors. Among hospitals with EHRs from these vendors, usage was significantly lower among rural hospitals and independent hospitals (P < .05). Two of these vendors provided measures of time spent doing specific tasks while the third measured an aggregate of auditable activities. Vendors varied in the underlying data used to create measures, measure specification, and data displays.
Apply Now for AHRQ Funding to Improve Quality at the Point of Care
The digital healthcare ecosystem is rapidly evolving, and there is a need to build the evidence base on how digital healthcare innovations can be effectively, efficiently, and safely deployed at the point of care.

The FOA: PA-21-164 “Using Innovative Digital Healthcare Solutions to Improve Quality at the Point of Care (R21/R33),” seeks health services research that explores the use of innovative patient-centric digital healthcare solutions to improve services at the point of care. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis; the next due date is June 16, 2021.
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May 17-20 Workgroup Meetings Cancelled
We have cancelled all the workgroup and subworkgroup meetings for May 17-20 so everyone can attend WEDI 2021 sessions.

WEDI workgroups provide thoughtful leadership and common-sense approaches that enhance the exchange of clinical and administrative healthcare information. They collect input, exchange ideas, and make recommendations that inspire impactful and far-reaching change in our industry.