Becker's Hospital Review

47 HEALTH IT ONC's Final 5-Year Health IT Strategic Plan: 10 Things to Know By Akanksha Jayanthi H HS' ONC has released the final version of its Health IT Strategic Plan for 2015 through 2020, which aims to modernize the country's health IT infrastructure to boost the use of electronic information and improve overall health. Here are 10 things to know about the 50-page strategic plan. 1. e strategic plan has four overarching goals: • Advance person-centered health and self-management • Transform healthcare delivery and community health • Foster research, scientific knowledge and innovation • Enhance the country's health IT infra- structure 2. e plan outlines how the federal gov- ernment will support the effective use of in- formation and technology to achieve these goals, but makes it clear that IT in and of itself is not an end goal; rather, it should be used to advance the other strategic priori- ties of the plan. 3. While the federal government is spear- heading these initiatives and the plan fo- cuses on federal strategies, the ONC says the goals require collaboration from private stakeholders and state, territorial, local and tribal governments. Additionally, participa- tion from all stakeholders in the healthcare industry — from individuals to caregivers to payers to academic institutions — is nec- essary to advance the ONC's mission. 4. e plan outlines key health IT princi- ples to achieve the strategic goals, such as focusing on value, being person-centered, respecting individual preferences, creating an environment of continuous learning and being responsible with the country's money and trust. 5. Industry leaders offered their support for the strategic plan. Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, said in a statement: "e incorpo- ration of person-centered health as a core goal of the final Federal Health IT Strategic Plan…is a significant and positive step to- ward the kind of patient- and family-cen- tered healthcare system this country needs. We commend ONC for recognizing that patients, families and caregivers must be able to access, understand, use and share health information in order to achieve a healthcare system that delivers better care, better health and better value. "By laying out the vision, goals and collective efforts that federal agencies will pursue over the next five years in concert with public and private organizations, the Strategic Plan will help sustain momentum in advancing patient access to tools that can help them understand and manage their care, communicate effectively with pro- viders and participate in efforts to enhance coordination of care across settings and providers." 6. e Premier alliance also issued a state- ment from Blair Childs, senior vice presi- dent of public affairs, in support of the plan and its intended goals. "Premier strongly supports consumer access to health data in private, secure and meaningful ways through the use of apps and other tools that better enable achievement of health and wellness goals. Ultimately, we share the future vision of the ONC to enable appli- cations to securely integrate and exchange information, including data in EHRs as well as health apps that consumers may use to access and share health data with providers. "Second, we are encouraged by the ONC's desire to improve the workflow and automation of quality measures collection and processes as part of a comprehensive strategy to support population health. More automated measures collection and analyt- ics capabilities, as envisioned in the plan, will go far to improve overall efficiencies and free providers up to spend more time doctoring to patients, and less time doctor- ing to administrative measures collection. "Last, we believe it is critical that the ONC fast track work to finalize interoper- ability standards necessary for capturing and exchanging information across IT plat- forms. In many respects, these standards are the essential foundation for every stra- tegic goal outlined in the plan." 7. Several initiatives complementary to the plan are already in effect, such as the Blue Button initiative, which encourages pa- tients to download their health records on- line, and the Precision Medicine Initiative, which President Barack Obama kicked off during his 2015 State of the Union Address. Such initiatives will be carried on along- side other projects to advance toward per- son-centered care and a stronger health IT infrastructure. 8. e origins of the plan were born from the ONC's Federal Health IT Advisory Council, which gathered stakeholders from across the industry to discuss health IT concerns. e ONC released a dra of the plan in December 2014 based on the input of more than 35 entities and departments participating in the council. From then through February 2015, ONC sought public comment and received feedback from ap- proximately 400 people and organizations. e final plan was released in September. 9. Starting in 2016, HHS will provide an- nual updates on the plan in its Adoption of Health IT and Related Efforts to Facilitate the Electronic Use and Exchange of Health Information report. Additionally, ONC plans to regularly update the Health IT Dashboard to offer progress updates. 10. e agency will also collect informa- tion and data from the following three pop- ulations to help measure the plan's success: • e percent of office-based physicians treating patients seen by providers outside the medical organization and the percent with electronic clinical information from those outside en- counters • e percent of nonfederal acute care hospitals that regularly have necessary clinical information in an electronic format when treating a patient seen at an outside care setting • e percent of individuals who experience at least one gap in health information when seeking care n

• Cover