HIE, Interoperability Still Center Stage

'We cannot have it be profitable to hoard patient information'

As Farzad Mostashari, MD, prepares to leave the ONC, his office and  the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are looking to the future and plotting long-term information exchange and interoperability policy strategies. Between meaningful use Stage 2, which is heavy on health information exchange, and the Affordable Care Act’s delivery and payment reforms in Medicare and Medicaid, the “overarching policy intent” is enabling care coordination and collaboration.

“We cannot have it be profitable to hoard patient information,” Mostashari said during a CMS and ONC webinar, emphasizing an idea he has long nurtured.