On July 10, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released a proposed rule that would update the requirements under its EHR certification program. The 1,067-page rule is officially tiled, “Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: Patient Engagement, Information Sharing, and Public Health Interoperability” and ONC has given it the nickname — HTI-2.
This HTI-2 proposed rule follows the release of the HTI-1 final rule in December 2023 that established new requirements for certified health IT developers and deadlines for providers in Medicare quality programs to update their software. Significantly, HTI-1 discontinued the year-themed “editions” of EHR certification criteria to enable annual certification updates. In addition to certification updates, the HTI-1 final rule and HTI-2 proposed rule include updates to information blocking regulations that apply to healthcare providers and certified HIT developers.
To learn more, join the NextGen Healthcare regulatory team for a special edition of the Health Reform Simplified webinar series, devoted to our analysis of this important rule and how it is likely to impact your organization.