What's Happening in Health IT

In This Issue

With a low of 5 degrees last night, Washington D.C. broke a record that had stood since 1896. As Winter wraps its icy blanket over this sleepy Southern town – and many, many other parts of the U.S. – we continue to look forward to Springtime in Chicago and are doing our best to fuel the fire for interoperability!

Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS 2015

Is your organization successfully using nationally recognized standards to help the nation advance to an interoperable learning health system as described in the draft Interoperability Roadmap? Are you sharing information more broadly to providers, consumers, and others to support better health care decisions while maintaining privacy? We are seeking organizations that are doing just that and are interested in demonstrating their technology that supports an interoperable learning health system. We are looking for a wide range of demonstrations – from query-based and directed exchange to innovative applications and interfaces that enable the seamless use and sharing of health information among clinicians, consumers, payers, the public health community, and the scientific community. All demonstrations must be live – no canned demonstrations or static presentations will be considered. With our partners at the Federal Health Architecture (FHA), we will accept proposals for the HIMSS 2015 Interoperability Showcase (April 12 – 15 in Chicago #HIMSS2015) until next Friday (February 27).

Funding Opportunities Announcements (FOAs) Webinars

ICYMI last week, we are planning webinars about the three grant funding opportunities (FOAs), all three designed to help advance interoperability and strengthen the health IT workforce. You can get more information at HealthIt.gov. The free webinars (all times Eastern) kick off next week:

Monday February 23^rd from 3-4pm: Workforce FOA Webinar
Tuesday February 24^th from 3-4pm: Advance Interoperable Health IT Services to Support HIE FOA Webinar
Thursday February 26^th from 3-4pm: Community Health Peer Learning Program FOA Webinar

Register for these webinars TODAY! Letters of intent for the new grants are due March 2 and the application deadline is April 6.

FACA Nominations

Want to make a difference in #health IT? The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is still accepting nominations to the Health IT Policy Committee until February 27 and ONC is accepting nominations to the Health IT Standards Committee through March 6.

Federal Advisory Committee Schedule Week of February 23 (all times EST)

So, no leap day this year and that means February only has 28 days. The work of health IT, however, goes on so we have to jam 10 meetings into one week. Here they are:

Monday
The Health IT Policy Committee's (#HITPC) Consumer Workgroup meets at 11am and will post the agenda prior to the meeting.

The HITPC Privacy & Security Workgroup meets at 2pm. Check the webpage for the agenda and meeting materials.

Tuesday
Starting at 11am, the HITPC Advanced Health Models and Meaningful Use Workgroupmeets. Watch for the agenda and meeting materials.

The Health IT Standards Committee (#HITSC) Transport & Security Standards Workgroupmeets at 3pm. Dial-in information, the agenda and meeting materials will be posted prior to the meeting.

Wednesday
The HITSC Content and Standards Workgroup meets at 11am and meeting materials will be posted before the meeting.

This is followed at 2:30pm by the HITPC Interoperability & HIE Workgroup. Check back for the agenda and meeting materials.

Thursday
The HITSC Architecture, Services and APIs Workgroup meets at 2pm. The workgroup will post its agenda and meeting materials next week so check the link for more details.

Friday
The HITPC Advanced Health Models and Meaningful Use Workgroup will meet at 10 am and will post more details about the meeting next week.

At noon the HITSC Implementation, Certification and Testing Workgroup meets. Watch for more details including the agenda.

Finally, at 2pm, the HITSC S&I Task Force convenes. The agenda for the meeting is forth coming.

FHA Newsletter

Speaking of the FHA, the new issue of its e-newsletter, The Pulse, has hit the interwebs. In this issue, FHA features an article about ONC's patient data matching effort with HIMSS and FHA's work on the Strategic Implementation Guide, both of which will support federal agencies in the implementation of the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan within their own agencies.

EHR Adoption Survey Page

We have updated our Web page about the way we survey doctors and hospitals about adoption of certified health IT. The page explains the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), which is sent to doctors, and the American Hospital Association's annual survey that has an appendix that defines EHRs and attempts to quantify the rate of adoption among hospitals across hospital systems and within them.

LTPAC Provider Participation Requested on Health IT Survey!

Please participate in a survey for Long-term and Post-Acute Providers to help CMS understand the role technology plays in the delivery of health care services in these settings. This survey helps identify the benefits and challenges providers encounter when participating in CMS programs that promote health care interoperability. The survey period runs from Friday, February 17, 2015 through March 3, 2015. To access the survey, click the link or paste it into your web browser: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3T9MV3J