CMS, ONC interoperability regs are the floor, not the ceiling for health plans, hospitals, survey finds

Nearly two-thirds of health plans (63%) say they are using recently proposed federal interoperability regulations as the first step toward broader strategies on interoperability, according to a new survey.

This suggests compliance with the new standards will be seen as the bare minimum in healthcare interoperability programs, according to a survey from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Forty-three percent of health system chief technology officers or chief information officers also said the proposed interoperability standards will the baseline for broader strategic interoperability initiatives.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) published proposed rules back in February designed to drive the industry toward widespread interoperability.

CMS’ proposed rule (PDF) would require Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicare Advantage plans and Qualified Health Plans to make enrollee data immediately accessible via application programming interfaces (APIs) by Jan. 1, 2020.

ONC also unveiled its information blocking rule (PDF) that defines exceptions to data blocking and fines that may be associated with the practice. The rule was mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act.

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