How MedMatch is implementing interoperability

Facilitating Patient Information Exchange

Physicians recognize the importance of having the right information at the right time.

86%

think better data interoperability would singnificantly cut time to diagnosis

95%

say increased data interoperability will improve patient outcomes

96%

agree that easier access to critical data can save lives

The 21st Century Cures Act

The 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) signed into law on December 13, 2016 had many objectives. In summary, it was designed “to accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of 21st century cures, and for other purposes.”

Title V of the Cures Act – [Delivery] – and its subsequent sections included legislation on:

Assisting doctors and hospitals with improving quality of care for patients
Promoting Interoperability
Preventing Information blocking
Leveraging electronic health records to improve patient care
Empowering patients and improving patient access to their electronic medical records

Who is behind this ?

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), both part of the US. Department of Human Health Services (HHS) have been administering the Cures Act.

In March 2020, the ONC released the interoperability rule as a part of the 21st Century Cures Act, primarily focusing on data exchange and patient information blocking.

The ONC officially enabled the 21st Century Cures Act’s information blocking provisions as of April 5, 2021.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation (CoPs) went into effect on May 01, 2021 requiring hospitals, including psychiatric hospitals and acute care hospitals to send electronic patient event notifications of a patient’s Admission, Discharge, and/or Transfer (ADT) to another healthcare facility or to another community provider or practitioner.

Failure to comply can result in loss of certifications and reimbursements.

CMS rules

CMS is enforcing the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule requirements starting on July 1, 2021.

Provide patients with access to their medical record
Limit information blocking by sharing patient data with insurance companies, employers, and consumer-facing smartphone apps
Release nearly all lab, radiology and pathology results into the patient portal
Updating clinician information in federal databases

Definition

SEC. 4003. INTEROPERABILITY.
DEFINITION.—INTEROPERABILITY.—The term ‘interoperability’, with respect to health information technology, means such health information technology that:

enables the secure exchange of electronic health information with, and use of electronic health information from, other health information technology without special effort on the part of the user;
allows for complete access, exchange, and use of all electronically accessible health information for authorized use under applicable State or Federal law;
(C) does not constitute information blocking as defined in section 3022(a).’

How MedMatch is implementing interoperability and helping with regulatory compliance

Electronic record referral

MedMatch generates an electronic record referral. This is unlike a referral made using fax or efax which creates digital records queued for subsequent sorting change “sorting” to “processing”. Not only is faxing patient record not secure, but it also creates more work for the recipient. The electronic information sent by MedMatch can be used to start an electronic medical record on the receiving end.

Secure upload and download of information

MedMatch provides for secure, cloud-based patient information upload and download.

EHR Integration

If your electronic medical records is hosted on one of many electronic health record systems (EHR), MedMatch will integrate with your EHR and seamlessly pull and push patient information to your EHR.

Access
to electronic records

MedMatch implementation of application programming interfaces (APIs) for patient and health provider access to their electronic medical records in compliance with the 21st Century Cures Act.

Patient medical data security

To ensure the security of patient health data through APIs, MedMatch has adopted Health Level 7 (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Release 4.0.1 as the foundational data exchange standard recommended both by the ONC and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

MedMatch as a QHIN

MedMatch’s participation in the trusted exchange framework proposed by the ONC as a Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) will provide up-to-date patient information needed for healthcare providers and their patients to make timely diagnosis and management decisions.

Stay up to date with patient status changes

MedMatch is positioned to facilitate the transfer of Admission, Discharge and Transfer (ADT) information to the patient’s established PCP or primary care practice group from hospitals, psychiatric institutions, and critical access hospitals using the HL7 v2.5.1 exchange standard.

How MedMatch is implementing interoperability

Facilitating Patient Information Exchange

86%

95%