Achieving seamless interoperability among various systems has become a critical goal nowadays. The 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) plays a pivotal role in this pursuit, focusing on advancing interoperability and eliminating data blocking. As stakeholders across the industry provide feedback on proposed changes to the Cures Act, let’s explore the significance of this legislation and the vision ahead.
What is the Cures Act, and How Does it Impact Health Care?
Enacted in 2016, the Cures Act is designed to expedite medical advancements and enhance patient experiences within the healthcare ecosystem. Part of the legislation centers around advancing interoperability, ensuring that “all electronically accessible health information” is readily accessed, exchanged, and used without unnecessary hurdles for the user.
Over the years, the implementation of the Cures Act has evolved better to suit the needs of the healthcare industry. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have released proposed rules to improve data sharing between disparate systems and eliminate information blocking.
How Has the Cures Act Impacted Interoperability in HealthCare?
Since introducing the Cures Act and the subsequent proposed rules from ONC and CMS, the healthcare industry has made significant strides in connecting networks nationally. Many initiatives based on a Cure Act have played a crucial role in facilitating the exchange of millions of clinical documents every month, enabling pertinent patient information to reach clinicians faster.
The industry’s focus has now shifted to enhancing the quality of clinical documents exchanged. This involves sending the most relevant data to clinicians for a comprehensive view of the patient’s care visit, striking a balance between standardized clinical conditions and clinicians’ narrative summaries.
Furthermore, the industry is pushing forward to empower networks with HL7® FHIR®-based APIs to increase the speed and scale of data exchange. By going beyond clinical document-style exchanges, a richer, nationally scalable toolkit based on established interoperability standards can be created, ensuring that clinicians have the best and most useful information at their fingertips while empowering consumers with scalable access to their data across providers.
The Vision Ahead for Interoperability aligns with the requirements set forth by the Cures Act. The healthcare industry has developed and published a position paper titled “The Building Blocks of Nationwide Interoperability: 2nd edition.” This comprehensive vision outlines a roadmap to achieve the industry’s interoperability goals and offers practical recommendations based on strategic principles.
With the 21st Century Cures Act and proposed rules from ONC and CMS, the healthcare industry is advancing rapidly toward nationwide interoperability. As the conversation continues and active participation from stakeholders becomes increasingly critical, the vision for seamless data exchange remains strong. The journey toward true healthcare interoperability is underway, and the industry looks forward to being at the forefront of this transformative movement.
