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CMS, ONC to Offer Updates on Initiatives that Will Rely on FHIR Standards

Written by Fred Bazzoli | Aug 20, 2020 8:33:22 PM

Community Roundtable scheduled for August 26 will detail progress toward DRLS and FAST

The HL7 Da Vinci Project’s August Community Roundtable features updates on two initiatives that leverage healthcare industry collaborative efforts to advance information exchange using HL7® Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®).

This is in response to two federal agencies that are seeking to maximize efficiency at scale and overcome barriers and physician burden in the healthcare system.

The agencies – the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC)– will provide updates on the progress on these efforts during the August 26 Community Roundtable.

The federal agency efforts aim to build on collaborative efforts underway in the healthcare industry, which are at the heart of the work by the HL7 Da Vinci Project, an accelerator seeking to advance the use of FHIR standards in support of value-based care initiatives.

The CMS Center for Program Integrity began the Documentation Requirement Lookup Service (DRLS) initiative in 2018, working in collaboration with the healthcare industry, in to response to ongoing provider burden experienced when trying to identify coverage-related documentation requirements, including those for prior authorization.

The initiative aims to streamline provider access to coverage requirements, from within their clinical workflows, through the development of a DRLS prototype for the Medicare Fee for Service program.

The CMS presentation will provide an overview of the Medicare Fee for Service Documentation Requirement Lookup Service prototype (pdf). Leading the discussion will be Ashley Stedding of CMS, and Nalini Ambrose and Larry Decelles, project lead and technical lead, respectively, of MITRE.

In support of efforts such as the DRLS initiative, focused on a functional use case, the FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST) – convened by the ONC – brings together a representative group of motivated healthcare industry stakeholders and health information technology experts that are studying infrastructural barriers. The task force seeks to identify FHIR scalability challenges and potential solutions, with the hope that their analysis will address current barriers and will enable rapid industry adoption of FHIR-based solutions at scale.

The presentation by the ONC on its FHIR at Scale Taskforce is entitled, “Ecosystem Infrastructure for Scalable FHIR Solutions through Collaboration and Industry Engagement.” Those discussing the effort include Stephen Konya of ONC, Patrick Murta of Humana, a co-chief architect of FAST, and Paul Oates of Cigna.

Both initiatives are widely viewed as crucial to enabling burden reduction throughout the healthcare industry and will providing a foundation for further adoption of FHIR standards to achieve these and related capabilities by healthcare industry participants.

Register Today!

Registration is open for the Da Vinci Project’s Community Roundtable at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7729858522719450636 .

About the Community Roundtable

The goal of the Da Vinci Project’s community roundtables is to increase public awareness among payers, providers and vendors of the resources and progress coming out of Da Vinci’s efforts. These 90-minute virtual sessions are open to Da Vinci members and the public and highlight how members leverage the Da Vinci use cases and implementation guides (IGs) in action in workflow.

Typically, two or three organizations showcase their work and answer audience questions, allowing for a vibrant discussion and fostering industry understanding of the Da Vinci work products and resulting market solutions. Sessions are recorded and available online after the event.

Join the Community

To learn more and join the community, visit hl7.me/davincinews.