What's Happening in Health IT

In This Issue

JUST RELEASED: National Coordinator Dr. Karen DeSalvo (@KBDeSalvo) in the Health AffairsBlog discusses her view of the health information technology landscape. She outlines an agenda for her office that includes incentivizing interoperability, "standardizing standards," and establishing shared expectations and actions around data security and privacy.

Although he's been around for a couple of months, you may not know ONC's new Chief Health Information Officer, Dr. Michael McCoy (@mjmccoymd). Read about Dr. McCoy's experiences and how ONC and the nation will benefit from those in his blog post. Welcome Mike!

2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria Webinar

Hear from the experts about the proposed 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria. At2:00 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 28 ONC will be hosting a detailed session on the proposed 2015 Edition rule. On the webinar you will get: An overview of the components of the 2015 Edition proposed rule; a summary of the differences between previous editions of certification criteria and certification policies and the 2015 Edition proposed rule; and important milestones and timelines related to the proposed rule. Presenters are Elise Sweeney Anthony, Esq., Deputy Director, Office of Policy and Michael L. Lipinski, Esq., Division Director, Federal Policy and Regulatory Affairs. Register now.

Grant Opportunity for HIE

Don't forget to submit your application for the Community Interoperability and HIE grant we recently issued. This grant makes available a total of $1 million for up to 10 awardees to expand resources for doctors, patients and communities to work together to unlock health information data and make it available when and where it matters most to advance individual, community and population health. The new funding opportunity application deadline is June 15, 2015 and organizations are being asked to help communities create opportunities for post-acute care and behavioral health providers who may not be connected. An informational webinar is scheduled for May 6 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, please register online. We're looking forward to getting your submissions!

Innovator Hangout: HIPAA 101 for Entrepreneurs

Attention Innovators! Beginning at 3pm EDT, Wednesday, April 29, we are hosting aGoogle+ hangout about the HIPAA privacy rule and its impact on health IT innovation. Learn from the experts how HIPAA not only protects patient information, but also gives patients the legal right to access their own health data. Companies developing consumer-facing apps and products will play a vital role in enabling patients to retrieve their information from providers and payors, and allow them to use that information in a meaningful way. Lucia Savage, ONC's chief privacy officer, and Jocelyn Samuels, the director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights will be hanging out with Chas Ballew, from Aptible, so be sure to check it out!

ONC's Market R&D Pilot Challenge

Join us April 30 to hear about the ONC Market R&D Pilot Challenge! Selected from 82 applicants, six winners will each receive $50,000 awards that contribute to the funding of pilots of innovative health IT products. The challenge, launched in November 2014, asked startups to team with health care provider host sites in developing six-month pilots that will begin in August. Sign up now to attend the webinar next Thursday at 3:00pm (EDT).

Federal Advisory Committee Schedule Week of April 27 (all times EDT)

Monday9:00 a.m.: Health IT Policy Committee's (#HITPC) Advanced Health Models and Meaningful Use Workgroup meeting

12:00 noon: #HITPC's Privacy & Policy Workgroup meeting

2:00 p.m.: Health IT Standards Committee's (#HITSC) Implementation, Certification and Testing Workgroup meetingTuesday12:00 noon: #HITPC's Consumer Workgroup meetingWednesday10:00 a.m.: #HITSC's Content Standards Workgroup meetingThursday9:30 a.m.: #HITPC's Consumer Workgroup second meeting

3:30p.m.: #HITPC's Interoperability & HIE Workgroup convenes

Note: The agenda and other materials will be available on HealthIT.gov before the meeting.

Health IT Safety Webinar Series

Join us on May 8 from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. EDT for the sixth webinar of a 10-part series on health information technology (IT) and patient safety, " How can we Improve Diagnosis and Safety Using Health IT?" This free webinar presents perspectives on using health IT to reduce errors and harms associated with diagnostic errors, including how health IT can be leveraged to support diagnostic decision-making and follow-up of diagnostic information such as abnormal test results. Presenters are Jason Maude, Founder and CEO, Isabel Healthcare; Hardeep Singh, M.D., M.P.H., Chief, Health Policy, Quality & Informatics, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX;Michael Kanter, M.D., Regional Medical Director of Quality and Clinical Analysis at Southern California Permanente Medical Group; and Mark Graber, M.D., RTI International. For additional information and to register, please visit: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6057274794614815490.

Slides and audio of previous webinars in this series are available at www.healthitsafety.org/education.

ICYMI: Privacy and Security Guide and Test EHR Program Updates

Last week we posted an updated Privacy and Security Guide. This Guide has been updated to bring new, practical information about privacy and security to small and medium-sized provider practices, health , health IT, other information technology professionals, and the public at large, many of whom may be considered Business Associates. Read the blog post and our updated guide.

We recently announced that Cerner Corporation and Epic Systems have joined iPatientCare as CMS Designated Test EHR Program participants. Since the Test EHR Program was launched just over a year ago, over four thousand providers have registered to conduct tests and more than five thousand have successfully attested to the transition of care Meaningful Use (MU) core objective. Learn more at the Test EHR Randomizer Page and theONC Test EHR page.

Comment Deadlines Approaching (quickly!)

Just a quick reminder to comment on the 2015 Certification Criteria proposed rule (open until May 29) and the Interoperability Standards Advisory (open until May 1). Weigh in now! You also have until June 30 to comment on the 2015 Edition Draft Test Procedures.