When you talk to people about healthcare standards, one of the biggest topics of discussion lately is the USCDI standard. After ONC released v1 of the USCDI standard, many were interested to see how far ONC would take it when they released v2 of USCDI. Some suggested that USCDI was too narrow, while others commented that as a core data standard it shouldn’t be all things to everyone.
ONC just announced the details of United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) v2 along with the Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP). For those looking for widespread changes, you’re going to be disappointed. The changes to USCDI in v2 are definitely more incremental progression than pushing the envelope. Here’s how ONC described the process:
The USCDI Draft v2 is the result of wide-ranging public input into the elements that should be included to enhance the interoperability of health data for patients, providers, and other users. ONC encourages the public to review this draft standard, including the list of data elements that didn’t make it into the standard, and provide comments through the USCDI home page by April 15, 2021.
ONC also released the Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) Approved Standards for 2020. Under the SVAP, health IT developers can incorporate newer versions of health IT standards and implementation specifications used in certified health IT and update systems for their customers without undergoing certification testing again.
I reached out to Brendan Keeler, Product Manager at Redox, to hear what he thought of USCDI v2 and he shared the following perspectives:
The new version added nothing new in terms of specialty care, such as oncology staging info, obstetric info, and the like that would help the neediest patients.
But clinical data isn’t what changes the game and makes patient auth actually useful to the healthy middle of the bell curve. It is missing the administrative part of the patient’s EHR record that is most valuable – financial data, referral information, scheduling insight, and control.
The good news is that ONC will continue to evolve USCDI and has asked for more comments on USCDI v2 based on the following schedule:
At the recent HITAC meeting, they discussed some of the details of the USCDI v2 draft. Their presentation offered a slide that had a great overview of the data that’s included in the USCDI standard:
What do you think of the USCDI v2 announcement? What changes would you like to see? Do you think this standard is going to help to push healthcare interoperability forward?