In 2024, an estimated 2 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the US (1). As of January 2022, there were an estimated 18.1 million cancer survivors in the US, which is projected to increase to 22.5 million by 2032 (1). For cancer survivors and those managing a recent diagnosis, having access to online medical records via patient portals or smartphone-based health apps is critical to managing complex health needs such as viewing lab results or clinical notes, communicating with providers, and sharing information with caregivers and other providers involved in their care. 

As explained by Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy Micky Tripathi (whose new job title comes after a departmental reorganization this past July) in a recent blog post, the move is a key part of the HHS Health IT Alignment Policy announced by the Biden Administration in 2022. The goal of the move – done in tandem with HHS' Office of the Assistant Secretary of Financial Resources – is to "establish and oversee a consistent HHS-wide approach to ensure that health IT requirements in grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and policy and regulatory actions align with HHS-adopted data standards," said Tripathi. "By aligning on standards that enable interoperability," he explained, "HHS is ensuring that federal investments do not contribute to the proliferation of proprietary modes of exchange and data silos that inhibit access, exchange, and use of data.

The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy’s Alex Kontur wrote in a blog post on August 19 that ASTP must ensure standards be put in place that support federal policy goals and enable developers to create interoperable health IT products. Kontur explained that developing and adopting healthcare standards included a series of cooperative agreements between ASTP and Health Level Seven International (HL7), which started in 2015. “This collaboration has supported the development and growth of crucial health IT standards incorporated by ASTP regulations and the ONC Health IT Certification Program, as well as tooling and resources for HL7’s standards development community.”

EHR vendor Epic plans to have all its clients committed to TEFCA participation by the end of 2024, with a go-live target for the end of 2025. In a news release, the EHR vendor said that many customers have already signed up to join TEFCA through its qualified health information network (QHIN), Epic Nexus. TEFCA is a federal initiative to improve interoperability between healthcare providers and payers through a network of networks approach. In addition to Epic's announcement, interoperability network Carequality has announced plans to align with TEFCA.

Often functioning behind the scenes, standards play an enormous role in our daily lives. Nearly every aspect of our modern world is shaped by standards, including our homes (building codes, electrical outlets), cars (safety requirements, fuel efficiency), and the food we eat (nutrition labels). Standards in healthcare impact medical education, clinical practice, quality of care, and patient safety. Likewise, modern health information technology (IT) systems, like electronic health records (EHRs), rely on data standards to record and exchange health information.