Everything you need to Know about Healthcare Interoperability during COVID-19. The need for connected and secure health information exchange network to share critical patient data has significantly risen — as a result of the novel coronavirus spread across the world, according to the U.S health officials.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) along with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS) has recently released its final rule to enhance interoperability thereby preventing information blocking for care providers and patients. The current healthcare scenario presents a slew of challenges faced by patients to virtually access their health records from their care providers. Since the 21st Century Cures Act, ONC continues to innovate on trusted and reliable healthcare exchange framework to provide a sustainable solution to this issue.

In tandem with the Sequoia Project, ONC is exploring new ways to win over the technical limitations pertaining to data interoperability. The key objective of Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) in collaboration with healthcare industry stakeholders is to enable a standardized system to lower the costs and complexities for providers to share data.

This means care providers can access more patient data to deliver better care. Here’s how the ONC’s Cures Act Final rule and the interoperability initiatives will benefit providers and patients at scale

• Quick Access of Patient Information by Providers - unifying disparate networks individually sharing data
• Eliminates need to Join Multiple health Information Networks - by reducing duplicate network interfaces to share records
• Better Access to More Data - Allows beneficiaries to access medical data and claims data via an application of their choice

The Coronavirus pandemic — which has become a global threat has further increased the importance of harnessing interoperability to deliver coordinated, connected and cohesive care during the public health crisis.

“Obtaining complete, accurate medical records should be necessary to properly assess any health situation, while all patients would benefit from easy, secure access to their health data”

— Seema Verma, Administrator, CMS

The final draft for TEFCA is soon to be released by the end of 2020 for public comment.

In the interim, ONC’s final rule has been submitted for publication review through the Office of the Federal Register — this will take effect 60 days post official publication.

As the COVID-19 impact continues to disrupt the healthcare ecosystem, interoperability will continue to play a transformative role in accelerating care models. There is a significant increase in the adoption of telemedicine, remote patient monitoring, and self-managed home care as healthcare systems are faced with new workflows and challenges. At SolvEdge, we are putting out best foot forward and working together to harness technology to deliver the right care during the time of public health crisis. For any support on telehealth solutions, telemedicine billing, virtual care services or Revenue Cycle Management, do reach out to us and we would be happy to help you.