Epic’s Response to ONC and CMS Interoperability Rules

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services published two finalized regulations:

• 21st Century Cures: Interoperability, Information Blocking and the ONC Health IT Certification Program (ONC); and
• Interoperability and Patient Access (CMS).

We keep the patient at the heart of what we do and we focus on improving health care for patients. Since the rules were proposed, we have been working closely with HHS and ONC to try to improve them, and we appreciate their willingness to hear our feedback. The rule is very important to health systems and their patients, so we will read the finalized regulations carefully to understand its impact before sharing our perspective.

As we read the rule, we will be especially interested in a few different topics:

1. Focus on standards-based scope for meaningful interoperability;
2. Impact of the rule on hospitals and physicians, and Epic’s ability to support them in delivering care;
3. Implementation timelines for required development and effective dates; and
4. Transparency for patients into companies’ data use and data handling practices.