In June 2014, the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology published this “vision” for nationwide interoperability of health information technology over the next ten years. The vision paper is still very general (more “guiding principles”, with very broad 3-year, 6-year, and 10-year goals) and does not have the type of specificity of actions, priorities, and milestones called for in the March 2014 General Accountability Office (GAO) report, or the focus on supporting application program interfaces (APIs) called for in the April 2014 JASON report. The “strategy” in the vision paper is still very general, described as “building blocks for a nationwide interoperable health information infrastructure”:
- Core technical standards and functions
- Certification to support adoption and optimization of health IT products and services
- Privacy and security protections for health information
- Supportive business, clinical, cultural, and regulatory environments
- Rules of engagement and governance
At the October 2014 ONC Policy Committee, ONC staff presented on what will become a draft “Roadmap for Nationwide Interoperability”. The initial ideas presented by ONC do contain the types of specific actions and milestones called for in the GAO report. The initial ideas do incorporate an AP-based strategy, but are more aligned with the joint ONC JASON task force recommendations than the JASON report recommendations.
The Roadmap is expected to be published for public comment in January 2015, with finalization by March 2015.
Ignatius Bau 