In March 2024, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a draft of its 2024-2030 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (draft plan) for public comment. It seeks to guide Federal efforts by creating “systemic improvements in health and care by strategically aligning its health IT policies, programs, and investments.”
PURPOSE OF PLAN
According to the draft, on a general level, the mission of Federal health IT is to “improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities using technology and health information that is accessible when and where it matters most.”
More specifically, the Health IT Strategic Plan seeks to improve the following:
- Individual access to electronic health information (EHI);
- Health care delivery, experiences, competition and affordability;
- Health equity;
- Public health;
- Health research; and
- Whole person care delivery by connecting human services data.
GOALS OF DRAFT PLAN
The draft plan focuses on the following goals: 1. Promoting “Health and Wellness,” 2. Enhancing the “Delivery and Experience of Care,” 3. Accelerating “Research and Innovation,” and 4. Connecting the “Health System with Health Data.”
Reflected throughout these goals is the potential impact that technology can have such as:
- That it can assist individuals in managing their own health;
- That individuals and populations will be able to “experience modern and equitable health care;”
- That it can lead to various improvements in the delivery of care;
- That it can improve health care by fostering competition and transparency; and
- That regulatory and administrative burdens can be reduced.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COMPONENTS OF PLAN
The draft touches upon AI in three of the four stated goals. Specifically, in the areas of promoting health and wellness; enhancing the delivery and experience of care; and accelerating research and development.
When it comes to the first goal of promoting health and wellness, the AI component relates to Objective B, “Individuals and populations experience modern and equitable health care.” Here, the draft seeks to “promote education, outreach, and transparency about the use of artificial intelligence,” so that, “individuals and health care providers are better informed about the use of AI technologies in health care and have transparency into performance, quality, and privacy practices.”
As to the second goal of enhancing the delivery and experience of care, the AI component relates to Objective D, “Providers experience reduced regulatory and administrative burden.” The draft seeks to “promote the safe and responsible use of AI tools,” so that, “Health care providers and patients experience streamlined, more efficient care delivery supported by Decision Support Interventions (DSI).”
For the third goal of accelerating research and innovation, the relevant AI component relates to Objective B, “Individual and population-level research and analysis are enhanced by health IT.” Here, the draft seeks to “promote increased transparency into the development and use of AI algorithms in health care settings,” so that, “Researchers, technology developers, and other health IT users understand how the AI systems they are using work in their practice to better address and mitigate bias and inaccuracies.”
IMPLEMENTATION OF DRAFT PLAN
When it comes to some of the key implementation provisions of the draft plan, management of individual health focuses heavily on electronic health information (EHI). Specifically, in terms of access and sharing, the objectives are to allow broad and secure access and sharing through the third-party app of their choice. ONC is also seeking portability of EHI through “APIs and other interoperable health.”
When it comes to improvements in the delivery of care, the draft plan calls for the Federal government to implement such things as the following:
- Promote the use of health IT and other modern technologies in clinical workflows;
- Promote interoperable and secure health information sharing through nationally adopted standards;
- Use health IT to support payment for high-quality, value-based care; and
- Increase transparency and understanding of health data that goes into algorithm-based decision support tools.
The draft plan also seeks to improve health care through fostering competition and transparency in the following ways:
- Making care quality and price information available electronically;
- Supporting efforts to merge clinical and administrative data streams, including payment data; and
- Fostering a safe and secure health application market
The ways the plan seeks to reduce regulatory and administrative burdens includes the following:
- Simplify and streamline electronic documentation requirements for provider payments;
- Leverage health IT to standardize data and processes related to electronic prior authorizations to allow for increased automation; and
- Advance health IT and related policies to improve alignment and increase automation related to health care provider data collection and reporting.
The draft plan calls for comments to be provided at HealthIT.gov/Feedback and the comment period ends on May 28, 2024.
Categories: AI, Cybersecurity, DATA ACCESS & INTEROPERABILITY
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