4010, Moorpark Avenue, #205, San Jose, California 95117

June 17, 2014 “An Interoperable Health IT ecosystem makes

the right data available to the right people at

the right time”

June 17, 2014

A 10-Year Vision to Achieve Interoperability

The Office of the National Coordinator for

Health Information Technology recently released

a vision document to achieve Interoperability in

Health IT. Spread over 3, 6 and 10 years, the vision

document highlights the pressing need to achieve

interoperability among different Health IT systems.

The complete report can be accessed from here.

The document speaks about the need for

broad adoption of Health IT that will facilitate the

sharing of Health information that is easy and

secure. With an eye on all stakeholders, ONC has

given a call asking clinicians, hospitals, public

health, technology developers, payers, researchers,

policymakers, individuals, and many others – to join

ONC in figuring out how to collectively achieve

interoperability across the health IT ecosystem.

Mission-2024

The goal to achieve complete interoperability

has been set for the year 2024. By aiming to make a

flexible system that satisfies the need of consumers,

the system has earmarked space for innovation as

well. Translated to realistic terms – this should

result in lower healthcare costs, better quality of

care, better management of population health with

increased consumer engagement and awareness.

“Individuals should be able to securely share

electronic health information with care providers

and make use of the information to support their

own health and wellness through informed shared

decision-making”, says the vision document. This is

quite interesting because most of the talk on

interoperability has been on the IT systems and very

less attention has been paid to the individual. To

what extent EHR companies commit changes to

make patients feel comfortable is still unclear given

the larger challenges EHR companies face in today’s

competitive market.

Guiding Principles

A set of guiding principles have been

formulated for the future interoperable health IT

ecosystem:

Build upon the existing health IT

infrastructure

One size does not fit all

Empower individuals

Leverage the market

Simplify

Maintain modularity

Consider the current environment and

support multiple levels of advancement

Focus on value

Protect privacy and security in all

aspects of interoperability

Timeline Breakdown

A timeline has been drawn up breaking down the

path to interoperability. The milestones have been

placed at 3, 6 and 10 years. A quick look at what

this means:

ONC Releases 10-Year Vision to Achieve Interoperability in Health IT

4010, Moorpark Avenue, #205, San Jose, California 95117

Five Critical Building Blocks

Five critical building blocks for a nationwide

interoperable health information infrastructure have

been listed as the focus areas to achieve

interoperability:

1. Core technical standards and functions

2. Certification to support adoption and optimization

of health IT products and services

3. Privacy and security protections for health

information

4. Supportive business, clinical, cultural, and

regulatory environments

5. Rules of engagement and governance

The Road Ahead

The 10-year vision document to achieve

interoperability in Health IT systems is a step in the

right direction. Sustainable interoperability that

fosters better sharing of information cannot be

achieved overnight. All the stakeholders have to be

taken along.

The objective is to ensure the free flow of

information and this requires cohesive and seamless

coordination not only among payer, provider and

patient but also among policy makers, Health IT

companies and academicians.

2017 2020 2024

SEND,

RECEIVE,

FIND, AND

USE HEALTH

INFORMATIO

N TO

IMPROVE

HEALTH CARE

QUALITY

USE

INFORMATIO

N TO

IMPROVE

HEALTH CARE

QUALITY AND

LOWER COST

THE

LEARNING

HEALTH

SYSTEM

4010, Moorpark Avenue, #205, San Jose, California 95117

Here is a quick checklist on the effectiveness of your

current Interoperability solution:

About ViSolve

ViSolve, Inc. is a software services and consulting firm with expertise in Healthcare and Cloud. ViSolve is headquartered at San Jose, CA with best in class Development & Support center in Coimbatore, India. To know more about how ViSolve can enhance your IT capabilities, get in touch with us:

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