Networking News

ONC Proposed Rule ‘Turning Point’ for Healthcare Interoperability

The ONC proposed rule supporting the use of the HL7 FHIR standards for healthcare APIs is a “turning point” for healthcare interoperability, judged Intermountain CMIO Stan Huff.

APIs

Source: Getty Images

By Fred Donovan

- The ONC proposed rule supporting the use of the Health Level Seven’s (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards for healthcare application programming interfaces (APIs) is a “turning point” for healthcare interoperability, judged Intermountain Healthcare Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) Stan Huff. 

As part of its recently released notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) implementing the 21st Century Cures Act, ONC laid out new API certification criteria, new standards and implementation specifications, and conditions and maintenance of certification requirements. To be certified, healthcare API developers must use the HL7 FHIR standard along with implementation specifications. 

“I think those are good provisions. They're going to require work; everybody's not doing that yet. But I think it's a very positive step forward,” Huff told HITInfrastructure.com