Source: GovCIO
As agencies continue to work toward modernizing public health data and setting data standards, Center for Diseases Control (CDC), Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) discussed the need for interoperability at HIMSS in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday. Interoperability has been a challenge for health care organizations because of regulations and a lack of standards in the field. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, health care organizations and government agencies began implementing public health data modernization, but smaller and rural health care organizations are lagging behind. ONC’s Molly Prieto said the best way to speed up modernization is to ensure all organizations have the support they need to make the transitions. Prieto highlighted the partnership between CDC and ONC as the two agencies work together to define the core elements of data needed for public health information. Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), a set of standards for exchanging electronic health data, has helped agencies like CMS and CDC. It is used in smartphone technologies, like Apple Health, that allow patients to quickly share information between platforms and providers.