The Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has published this proposed rule for its 2015 certification of electronic health records (EHRs) and other health information technology. The ONC proposes broadening its certifications beyond what are required for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments under the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. For example, ONC could begin to certify the application program interfaces (APIs) that would facilitate electronic health information exchange contained within different EHR systems. Although these new certifications would be dated “2015”, it is not clear when these requirements would be finalized and then when a 2015 ONC certification would be required by various federal programs, including the HITECH Act incentive programs. Comments are due by May 29, 2015.
Ignatius Bau 