ONC HITAC Task Forces to Respond to Proposed Rules

Having just unveiled a slew of proposed regulations at HIMSS last week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has established task forces to provide draft recommendations to the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) on information blocking, conditions and maintenance of certifications requirements, and the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) Standard.

At a Feb. 20 HITAC meeting, ONC staff members briskly led committee members through the proposed rules and requests for information. They noted that although the 60-day comment period window is short, the period will not begin until the rule is officially published in the Federal Register, which has not happened yet. The task forces are being asked to develop their final recommendations to HITAC within eight weeks.

• The Information Blocking Task Force is charged with providing recommendations on policies related to information blocking, including ONC definitions/interpretations of certain statutory terms and provisions, including the price information request for information, the seven exceptions to the information blocking definition and any additional exceptions, the complaint process, and any disincentives for healthcare providers.

• The Conditions and Maintenance of Certification Requirements Task Force is charged with providing recommendations on the API, real world testing and attestations conditions and maintenance of certification requirements; updates to most 2015 Edition health IT certification criteria; changes to the ONC Health IT Certification Program; and deregulatory actions.

•  The U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) Standard Task Force will focus on the draft USCDI v1 data classes and data elements and the USCDI promotion model. It will review the newly specified data elements proposed in the USCDI v1 and provide recommendations on the data elements and any missing data elements.

• Health IT for the Care Continuum. A fourth task force will help develop ONC recommendations and policies that support pediatric care and practice settings; 2015 edition certification criteria that support multiple care and practice settings; and how health IT can support the treatment and prevention of opioid use disorder in alignment with the HHS strategy to address the opioid crisis.