CHIME, AMDIS File Joint Comments on ONC’s Interoperability Roadmap

Joint Statement from CHIME and AMDIS in Response to ONC’s Interoperability Roadmap

ANN AROBOR, MI, April 3, 2015 – CHIME and AMDIS commend the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT for their efforts to detail a national strategy to improve the interoperability of health information technology. While we have some pointed criticisms, the amount of work needed to produce this first draft cannot be ignored. Specifically, we applaud ONC for creating heightened visibility toward building an interoperable health IT environment and underscoring the importance of clear, enforceable standards. For too long our fractured industry has developed tools based on a moving target of immature and inconsistently implemented standards.

We hope that ONC takes seriously the need to prioritize action items which can build on progress made to date. In our view, interoperability in the service of high quality, safe patient care should remain the principal focus of the near-term. Specifically, patient identification is paramount if we are to make any progress toward an interoperable Learning Health System. A national approach to patient identification is prerequisite for interoperability and the lack of a standard patient identifier only serves to aggravate our industry’s technical challenges. Without a standard patient identifier, the creation of a longitudinal care record, composed of data created through disparate systems, geographies and chronology is simply not feasible.

Contact
Stephanie Fraser
Director of Communications and Corporate Relations
734.665.0000
[email protected]