What is the Cures Act?
Just over 6 years ago the 21st Century Cures Act was first introduced as a bill to the House of Representatives. With a focus on Electronic Health Information (EHI) and data interoperability, the Act was poised to shift how the industry uses and shares information.
After nearly a year of negotiations, the bill was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in late 2016. Under the Trump administration, the Final Rule was published on May 1, 2020.
So fast forward to today. How does the 21st Century Cures Act Impact Healthcare? And what do these new regulations mean for providers, patients, healthcare technology, and more?
Our Senior Vice President of Healthcare, Patrick Gardner takes on these questions in our recent webinar.
The Focus of the 21st Century Cures Act
Patrick walks us through how the legislation came to be and the intended goals for the industry.
For the most part, the evolution of this legislation was bi-partisan, which means it’s likely in the best interest of the country. At the core of the 21st Century Cures Act and ONC Final Rules Act is the patient.
This patient-focused legislation ensures patient ownership of their EHI and is intended to foster “an ecosystem of new applications” through interoperability.
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3 Key Components of the ONC Cures Act Final Rule
Diving a little deeper, Patrick took us through the three key components of the ONC Cures Act Final Rule:
- Information Blocking, including covering outlined exceptions to the guidelines
- The 4 Components of Interoperability, technical standards for interoperability, and what this could look like for patients
- Certification – who needs to certify and how might that evolve?
21st Century Cures Technology Best Practices
Finally, we look at the path for defining and executing your interoperability strategy. Depending on how far along your organization is, Patrick advised different focus areas for your technology and best practices.
Ultimately, the 21st Century Cures Act impacts the entire healthcare industry. As a result, the industry must adapt existing technologies and develop new ones to remain competitive and deliver better care.
No matter where your team is in the process, KMS is here to advise and help. Our experts can help you choose the right technology, quickly ramp up a team to execute your interoperability transformation, or offer consulting services to plan out and prioritize your timeline.
Upcoming Webinars
Join us throughout the year as we continue to explore 21st Century Cures and Healthcare Technology in our webinar series. Upcoming topics include:
- Readiness for 21st Century Cures, a Timeline of Events
- New HIPAA Interoperability Rules for 21st Century Cures
- The Biden Administration’s Updated Opinion on 21st Century Cures
- A Technologist’s Perspective of SMART on FHIR, HL7 and Proprietary Integrations
- Improved Time-to-Market with Innovation Accelerators
- HIPAA Security and Confidentiality in a Global Model
- Key Healthcare Technologies for 2021 and How KMS Healthcare can Help
Want us to let you know when the next webinar will be?
