At 12:00 noon on January 20, 2021, I became the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). At 12:00 noon on January 20, 2025, I will leave my role as the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of HHS. My 4 years in this job – leading a phenomenally talented and dedicated ASTP team, advancing HHS’s technology strategy and policies to keep pace with the modern age, The post Passing the Baton appeared first on Health IT Buzz ..read more

The 2024-2030 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (Plan) provides a blueprint of the work that federal agencies have underway to improve the access, exchange, and use of electronic health information (EHI) and achieve better health outcomes for all Americans. This new blog series, “Federal Agencies Leading the Charge,” will explore the ways federal agencies are using health IT strategies, initiatives, and programs to fulfill the Plan’s goals. To begin the series, we’re exploring how the Centers for Medicare & The post Federal Agencies Leading the Charge: Coordinating Efforts with the Centers ..read more

As technology continues to transform healthcare, the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) is leading the charge to shape the future of health IT. From advancing interoperability standards to exploring the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), HITAC’s work is laying the foundation for a smarter, more connected healthcare system. The HITAC provides valuable insights to the assistant secretary for technology policy that can inform ASTP’s policies and programs. HITAC members represent a broad swath of the healthcare industry and as such, The post 2024 HITAC ..read more

Recognizing the importance of seamless data exchange in oncology, six health IT vendors have committed to supporting USCDI+ Cancer data elements (two more organizations pledged to promote cancer-related activities in their work), marking a significant step toward a more interoperable and standardized healthcare system. The White House announced these activities in March, 2024 to improve cancer care through enhanced utilization of EHR data, highlighting ASTP’s efforts around the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), The post Advancing Cancer Care through FHIR-Based Reporting: Up ..read more

Health information exchange organizations (HIOs) are networks that enable the electronic exchange of health information across participating health care providers, public health agencies, payers, and other entities. They also have a unique, wide-angle lens on the state of interoperability nationwide. Since 2020, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) has partnered with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Civitas Networks for Health (Civitas) to survey HIOs. We recently published a number of studies from the most recent survey, The post Nationa ..read more

In recent blog posts “IB the API, I Think Not” and “Getting Real about Information Blocking and APIs” we discussed concerns about practices, actions, and behaviors that run counter to our policies promoting an open, standards-based approach to interoperability. Recent and ongoing reports received from “API Users,” which includes, among others, health care providers and app developers, indicate that certified health IT developers (in this context “Certified API developers”) have been engaging in activities that could be non-conformities under the ONC Health IT Certification Program (Certificati ..read more

It’s that time of the year when we all close out annual processes. In this case, we at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) through the hard work of our Office of the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (OCAIO) are pleased to let you know that HHS’ 2024 AI Use Case Inventory is available for review. This artificial intelligence (AI) use case publication requirement was first initiated by President Trump through Executive Order 13960 “Promoting the Use of Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence in the Federal Government” and further enhanced by President Biden’s Exec ..read more

ASTP has taken your valuable feedback and we are proud to unveil the newly redesigned Standards Implementation & Testing Environment (SITE)—your all-in-one testing hub for the ONC Health IT Certification Program (Certification Program). The updated SITE platform offers a more seamless and efficient user experience, empowering users to take full advantage of the system’s tools and resources. Whether you are validating certain interoperability capabilities or testing against certification criteria, The post Unveiling the Redesigned SITE: A Unified Testing Hub for Health IT Developers appeare ..read more

The “T” in Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement™ (TEFCA™) is an important part of what drives our work. So too is the public-private engagement we have created over the past seven years. As we launched TEFCA last year we did so with the expectation that we would need to make iterative adjustments over time to help it grow. That’s why we’ve recently released a new standard operating procedure (SOP) to guide how organizations seeking to participate in specific “Exchange Purposes” within TEFCA are vetted (see: Vetting Process SOP).   The post What Makes TEFCA Different: New S ..read more

As part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy’s (ASTP) vision of “better health enabled by data,” we are committed to advancing health equity and person-centered ways to promote the interoperable exchange of data on patients’ health-related social needs (HRSN) and broader social determinants and dynamic social drivers of health (SDOH). In support of this effort, ASTP conducted several studies in the past year to better understand whether routine screening combined with capturing data in a structured format could facilitate immediate and downstream use of data collected ..read more