The 21st Century Cures Act marks the beginning of a significant trend in the HIT landscape in US healthcare. With changes potentially bigger than MACRA/ACI/PI, the final rule presents HIT vendors with an opportunity to align with an increasingly patient-centric world.
With its requirements spanning clinical workflows to interoperability to transparency, Cures Act surely is poised to stir players across the continuum of care. HIT vendors, however, will have the lion’s share of the lifting to do.
Elements of the Final Rule
In its entirety, the final rule covers a wide range of intersecting health and health IT policy changes. Below are the key components impacting HIT solutions:
ONCHIT Certification
Significant changes to the definition of base EHR, eRx, CMS reporting standard, FHIR V4, and many others redefining CEHRT of the future
USCDI
A new and extensible interoperability standard for health information exchange across the healthcare ecosystem awaits HIT vendors
Information blocking
Introduction of a mandate for sharing information with repercussions of monetary and civil penalties for non-compliance
API Access
Certified HIT developers to publish APIs that enable data access for single patient and population using FHIR
The ‘Actors’ impacted by the Final Rule
Certified HIT Developers
- Primary Healthcare Solution Developers
- Actors of Voluntary Certification of HIT
- Third-Party Dependents
Healthcare Providers
- Hospitals
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs)
- Long Term Care (LTC) Facilities
- Labs and Imaging Centers
- Clinics, Practitioners and more
HIN and HIE
- EHI Access and Exchange Network Providers
- Unaffiliated Parties
- Administrators of EHI Exchange Policies
Major CEHRT Changes
New
- EHI Export
- API Standardization and Access
- Electronic Prescribing
- Security – Encryption/MFA
Revised
- Security Tags for a Summary of Care
- Clinical Quality Measures
- ASTM Healthcare Standards
- Application Access
Removed
- Problem, Meds and Med Allergy Lists
- Smoking Status
- CCDS Summary Record
- Formulary & Preferred Drug List
- Data Export
What We Can Do For You
Anyone who has gone through the Meaningful Use waves would understand the ordeal those presented. While MU entailed incremental changes, Cures Act is more of a transformational endeavor from a technical perspective. Which is why the question posed to HIT vendors will not only be ‘what’ but 'how and why' as well.
We intend to make it easier for you through our expertise in US healthcare. Having analyzed the Cures Act’s technical implications for a while now, we are well-positioned to ease your journey to certification through the following.
Assessment
Requirements
Implementation
Testing
Certification
Let’s make CEHRT certification easier for you
We have helped others get their solutions certified successfully. Let’s do the same for you.
Here are Some Essentials!
Our healthcare experts give you a brief understanding of your areas of focus in the coming months