The Standard

Much Progress Made on This and Other Da Vinci Project Use Cases During Recent FHIR Connectathon

The HL7 Da Vinci Project’s Gaps in Care use case continues to make rapid progress in developing a Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®)-based solution to help payers, providers and patients improve care quality under value-based care scenarios.

Several issues were addressed during last month’s Virtual FHIR Connectathon, and the hope is that an implementation guide update for the standard will be balloted in September stated Viet Nguyen, MD and Yan Heras, who are leading the work on the use case. The progress and work on the Gaps in Care use case exemplifies work done on several Da Vinci Project use cases during the Connectathon.

Next week, developers working with health data are gathering at the FHIR Dev Days conference, June 15-18, 2020, and Microsoft is pleased to host the “Hack on FHIR.”  Get coding time, explore the FHIR spec, and learn the platforms helping organizations innovate using technology that removes barriers to interoperability.

In the world of technology, new inventions and ideas are introduced daily. It’s become common to brand a new technology platform as one that will “revolutionize” or “transform" the world as we know it.  But in most cases, the true test of new technology is far more than slogans or hype, it’s how that tech stands up in a crisis or an emergency.  

Three use cases will be in the spotlight as the HL7 Da Vinci Project hosts its regular monthly community roundtable from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 27.

The session will demonstrate how organizations are using the Da Vinci Project implementation guides to streamline the exchange of information between payers and providers.

The event, “Learn How Cambia Health Solutions, HealthSparq and United are Using Da Vinci Specifications to Advance Value-Based Care,” will look at ways that HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) can be used to achieve quality measurement, provider search and lab results integration into EMRs.

Due to COVID-19, most of the in-person conferences have been changed to virtual events. I recently attended my first-ever fully online technology conference, the Virtual HL7 FHIR Connectathon. This article details my experience and recommendations, in general, for all future conferences post-COVID-19.

Introduction

First, let me give my kudos to HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Product Director Grahame Grieve, the planning team, track leads, FHIR community and HL7 for the  excellent execution of  the Virtual FHIR Connectathon. The conference includes healthcare data interoperability topics with different tracks, expertise and both technical non-technical skills.

I have attended many in-person conferences in the past. Over time, I realized people attend conferences for primarily for two reasons:

1. Learning new skills
2. Networking

Let me share my thoughts based on my first Virtual FHIR Connectathon experience.

Recap of the April HL7 Da Vinci Project Community Roundtable

CMS released the much-awaited Interoperability & Patient Access Rule in early March this year. This rule establishes policies that aim to break down barriers in the health system across the US for better patient engagement.

CMS had proposed the Interoperability & Patient Access Rule to support regulations of the MyHealthEData initiative and 21st Century Cures Act with an implementation timeline. This resulted in numerous requests from the healthcare industry, especially from the payer community, which demanded for the rule to be implemented in a phased manner. This was well received by CMS and timelines have been set accordingly given that technological advancements and security of data exchange need to be taken into consideration.

The rule promises to enable better patient access to their health information, improve interoperability and drive innovation, while reducing burden on payers and providers. Patients can now be aware of their health information for better care and improved patient outcomes. With data being available conveniently and securely among payers, providers and patients, CMS hopes to achieve real coordinated care, improved health outcomes and reduced costs.

To kick off this month’s Da Vinci Project Community Roundtable, which is slated for Wednesday, April 22, at 4 p.m. EST, Deputy Chief Health Informatics Officer at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Alexandra Mugge will provide a high-level overview of the final rule update on interoperability and patient access. It will then take an in-depth look at two use cases presented by GuideWell and Edifecs to see how organizations are using the Da Vinci Project implementation guides to streamline the exchange of information between payers and providers.