AHA to ONC: Current requirements should be starting point for interoperability roadmap

The AHA today expressed concern that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s “roadmap” to achieve nationwide interoperability “is not sufficiently grounded in an assessment of present realities or focused enough on the steps that will enable public and private stakeholders to travel from the present regulatory, clinical and technology environment to the future state envisioned.” In comments submitted to the agency, Linda Fishman, AHA senior vice president of public policy analysis and development, said, “America’s hospitals strongly support the creation of an efficient and effective infrastructure for health information exchange that supports the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care across health care settings….Yet, hospitals and health systems report that the EHRs purchased during the past five years do not easily share information and that the cost and complexity of the many interfaces needed to connect systems today are simply not sustainable. Given the significant investments already made, the AHA urges ONC to adopt the current requirements of the meaningful use program and the capabilities of the 2014 Edition certified EHRs as the starting point for the nationwide interoperability roadmap.”