“Opponents of the new federal healthcare interoperability rules may have found an ally in the least likely place: The coronavirus. Because of the outbreak of the global pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working to determine whether or not to push back the originally publicized timeline of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) interoperability rule.’
“The reason is obvious. Since the rule was published on March 9, there’s been a bigger healthcare story. The virus announced itself to more than 100 countries worldwide and spread through community infection in the U.S.”
“Everyone, from business leaders and employees to titans of industry and average Joes, now finds themselves in the fight. And, while interoperability might be an excellent arrow in the healthcare quiver, for the worst healthcare crisis anyone alive has ever seen, it’s not going to hit any targets.”
“The Trump administration is fighting battles on too many fronts, it seems.”
“The interoperability rule may be another one — one that can be set aside for now. Thus, the Health IT Advisory Committee met last week to discuss possibly pushing back both the ONC and CMS interoperability rules because of the spread of the coronavirus…”
“In addition to the ONC interoperability rule possibly being pushed back, the agency is attempting to determine if it should to delay the timeline for the CMS rule, which focuses on providers and payers.” Read the full article here.
Source: MultiBrief: Coronavirus may delay HHS’ timetable for interoperability rules – By Scott E. Rupp, March 24, 2020. MultiBriefs.
