The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced the availability of the 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA). 

Since its inception in 2015, the annual ISA version release has catalogued and updated key clinical information standards and associated implementation specifications required under the federal programs currently in use. The goal is to promote, enhance and support information sharing of patient clinical data across the continuum of care.

According to Dr. Vindell Washington, the national coordinator of health information technology, the goal of this year’s advisory is to create greater dialogue, debate and consensus by incorporating stakeholder feedback along with the publicly available lists of standards and specifications related to clinical, public health and research to support the need for sharing electronic health information.

The ONC also reports that health information technology vendors, along with dozens of professional organizations and stakeholder groups, have pledged commitments to enhance interoperability and adopt standards and best practices including those related to privacy security.