What's Happening in Health IT

In This Issue

Welcome to the weekend ... almost! If you are heading to the AMIA Annual Symposium this weekend, don't miss the chance to attend the ONC Listening Session on Monday. Also, time is running out to sign up for the HIMSS 2016 Interoperability Showcase, so read on!

ONC Listening Session at AMIA

Headed to AMIA’s Annual Symposium this weekend? ONC’s informatics experts will be hosting a listening session and invite you to attend. Andrew Gettinger, M.D., our chief medical information officer (@ag1), Michael McCoy, M.D., our chief health information officer (@mjmccoymd), and Rebecca Freeman, RN, PhD, PMP, our chief nursing officer (@freemanjr) will host the listening session on Monday 12:30 -1:30 p.m. PST. We welcome the opportunity to hear feedback regarding the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan, Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, Safety Program Update, Precision Medicine and other key health IT initiatives. Space is limited to 65 seats so reserve your spot now. Email ONC.request@hhs.gov with the subject line AMIA.

November 16, 12:30-1:30 pm PST
Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Continental 6 Room
RSVP: ONC.request@hhs.gov

In addition, Dr. Gettinger will join a discussion on Monday November 16 at 8:30 am PST on A Road Map for a National Health Information Technology Safety Center. Don't miss it!

Call for Participants: HIMSS 2016 Interoperability Showcase Nominations

This is a friendly reminder to let us know if you would like to team with ONC – or other federal partners – and participate in the HIMSS 2016 Government interoperability showcase. The showcase runs from March 1 – 3 and will be held at the Sands Convention Center in sunny Las Vegas! For more information, please contact: Bronwen Watkins-Pitchford, bpitchford@himss.org or Eric Larson,eric.larson@hhs.gov. The deadline to submit your request is November 17, 2015.

#2015EdCert Draft Test Procedures Posted for Final Public Comment

ICYMI: The 2015 Edition draft test procedures are out for a final public comment period through November 30, 2015. Additionally, ONC recently published a new resource: “Certification Companion Guides” (CCGs). The CCGs are designed to help health IT developers more quickly understand and interpret regulatory requirements so that they can focus on product development. A CCG has been developed for each certification criterion and will serve as the single, consolidated information source for any clarifications related to a certification criterion. To learn more about these materials, check out the full blog post by Steve Posnack.

Bonnie eCQM Testing Tool Upgraded

The Bonnie eCQM testing tool has been updated to version 1.4.0. The update supports the testing of measures that use the Quality Data Model 4.2 including support for Immunization, Diagnosis, Symptom, and Family History datatypes, as well as Encounters with Diagnoses and Laboratory Tests with a Reference Range. The core functionality of Bonnie has not been changed.

New Infographics on Consumer Engagement with Health IT

Thanks to everyone who has shared our new infographics about the value consumers receive from accessing their electronic health data and the surge in providers who offer online access to health information. For those who haven’t yet, share away!

The Value of Consumer Access & Use of Online Health Records [INFOGRAPHIC]: http://bit.ly/1PqjDey
A Majority of Providers Offer Online Access to Health Information [INFOGRAPHIC]: http://bit.ly/1GNrWA5

Federal Advisory Committee Schedule Week of November 16 (all times EDT)

Tuesday

9:00 a.m.: The Health IT Policy Committee’s new Certified Technology Comparison Task Force convenes its inaugural meeting: http://bit.ly/1RLAJ5S

Friday

9:30 a.m.: The Health IT Standards Committee’s Transitional Vocabulary Task Force meets: http://bit.ly/1NHNorh