As part of the 21st Century Cures Act, the recently approved Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Interoperability and Patient Access final rule contains sweeping reforms for U.S. healthcare.

Its data management requirements for payers, providers, health exchanges, and other healthcos are especially strict.

Among other things, by January 1, 2021 these organizations must implement two APIs: one for patient access to online claims and health information, and another for a directory of practitioners. By January 1, 2022, they’ll need a way for patients to exchange data between different insurers (and providers) on demand.

Adding to the complexity is the fact that data available through these APIs must conform to the Fast Healthcare Interoperable Resources (FHIR) standard, which allows your organization to quickly exchange data between systems for a basic level of interoperability.

The goal of these requirements is admirable:

• to improve patient access to health information,
• better the decision-making process and
• optimize care when it’s sorely needed.  

Implementing these requirements, however, means organizing, co-locating, and unifying data’s representation—which has historically been difficult. 

Clearly, there’s no shortage of technology approaches to address these issues. So the challenge really is to:

• assess what’s needed for final rule compliance,
• select an approach enabling you to do so, and
• achieve interoperability in a couple of months

—when the industry itself has been struggling to do so for years. 

Want to learn specific actions you can take today to get in compliance? Download a copy of the full article as your guide!

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This is the first part of a three-part series that explores how healthcare organizations can meet the demands of CMS interoperability.  You can read part 2 on Aligning Your Organization for CMS Interoperability and part 3 on Why Matching is the Underpinning of CMS Interoperability Requirements for the complete series.