The pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed gaps in the nation’s public health infrastructure that pose challenges to effective communication between health care providers and public health agencies.  According to ONC analyses of nationally representative survey data from hospitals and physicians collected in 2019, over 70% of hospitals experienced at least one major challenge with electronic public health reporting and less than 1 in 5 primary care physicians—and about a quarter of pediatric and internal medicine primary care physicians—reported electronically exchanging data with public health agencies.

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In ONC’s “App Developer and Data Integrator Perspectives” report [PDF – 511 KB] (Perspectives Report) – the third in the “Accelerating APIs” report series – we assess the current landscape of API-based health information exchange in a rapidly evolving electronic health data ecosystem. Perspectives of app developers and data integrators are presented to understand the emerging landscape of technology companies and their role in effective data aggregation, integration, and exchange.

Federal Efforts Promoting Standardized App Use

Together with the ONC Cures Act Final Rule and CMS Promoting Interoperability Programs,

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The Strengthening the Technical Advancement & Readiness of Public Health via Health Information Exchange Program (The STAR HIE Program) has made great strides in supporting public health agencies’ ability to exchange health information during times of emergency.
Funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) in 2020, the initial STAR HIE Program was expanded in 2021 to further support efforts to increase vaccination data sharing between jurisdictional Immunization Information Systems (IIS) and HIEs.

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March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all aspects of community life, as well as awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities still sometime face in connecting to the communities in which they live.  ONC works to ensure that health IT improves the health and health care of all Americans, including vulnerable populations such as those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

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The 2022-2026 HHS Strategic Plan is Live!

Today, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released the HHS Strategic Plan (Plan) for fiscal years 2022-2026, which addresses the complex, multifaceted, and evolving health and human services matters facing our nation. We look forward to advancing the Plan, including the strategies to improve the access, exchange, and use of electronic health information for patients, providers, payers, and other health and health care stakeholders.

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Health equity and social determinants of health (SDOH) data were a recurring theme at this year’s ONC Annual Meeting. Leveraging these important data, which reflect where people are born, live, learn, work and play can have a significant impact on patient care and public health. SDOH data provide opportunities for promoting health equity and improving patient outcomes if they are better integrated into the electronic health record (EHR).
We had the opportunity to moderate a panel of health information exchange experts in several states at this year’s Annual Meeting.

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