On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its much-anticipated interoperability final rules. In what the Administration calls the start of a new chapter in American health care, the rules released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) aim to simplify data exchanges between providers, prevent information blocking and increase patients’ access to their own data. Changes include standardizing application programming interfaces and requiring electronic notifications when patients are admitted, discharged or transferred. The Administration originally scheduled the unveiling to coincide with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, however, the conference was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.

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