ONC issues final 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology yesterday released its final 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory, an updated list and assessment of the standards and implementation specifications available to meet clinical health IT interoperability needs. “The ISA is a key step toward achieving the goals we have outlined with our public and private sector partners in the Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, as well as the Interoperability Pledge announced earlier this year,” said Vindell Washington, M.D., national coordinator for health IT. “We incorporated detailed stakeholder feedback to provide a consolidated, public list of standards and specifications that can be put to use to address clinical, public health, and research needs for sharing electronic health information.” The ISA is a non-binding document, but the standards and implementation specifications may be considered for rulemaking or other federal requirements.