ONC updates, adds to Interoperability Standards Advisory

Rules and regulations proposed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology hang in limbo, thanks to the government shutdown. But that isn’t stopping the federal organization from pushing forward on addressing a significant pain point for the healthcare industry.

ONC released updates to its Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA), a living document focused on improving the exchange of data between healthcare systems. The updates are based on recommendations from the Health IT Advisory Committee and feedback from the healthcare community.

ONC has added interoperability needs the healthcare industry should address to further information-sharing to ISA 2019, including several electronic prescribing-related interoperability standards that would allow pharmacies to request additional refills and prescribers to send prescriptions for controlled substances to a pharmacy.

ONC included the updates in its release of the 2019 ISA Reference Edition, which provides a snapshot of the document, and the healthcare community can also tap into an ISA RSS feed when the document is changed.

ONC received 74 comments on the document in 2018, resulting in around 400 revision recommendations, according to an ONC news release.  ONC uses the ISA to identify and assess interoperability standards and implementation specifications the healthcare industry can use to address interoperability needs, the release said.

The federal organization believes the ISA should be considered an open resource for healthcare industry leaders that reflects the latest thinking around standards aimed toward nationwide interoperability.