Security

On February 11, 2019, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for implementing data interoperability provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act.  Under the proposed rule, all health information technology (HIT) vendors that sell “certified electronic health record technology” (CEHRT) to health care providers will be required to meet new security, data governance and API standards, once final rules take effect.  The proposed rule also describes steps to end business practices that emerged during the years when electronic health records were being adopted, which Congress viewed as anti-competitive. In a related announcement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Proposed Rule to promote data interoperability by health plans that participate in the Medicare, Medicaid or the CHIP program, or that issue qualified health plans in the individual health insurance marketplace. Both proposed rules mark a long-awaited step towards standardizing the rules of the road for data interoperability in healthcare.   Of course, the industry hasn’t been sitting on their heels.  Epic’s App Orchard, Xealth’s API marketplace and Apple Health Record are examples of the kind of tracks that are already being laid to connect consumers with their health…