Physician Practice

ONC seeks input on interoperability under MACRA

Physician Practice Insider, April 19, 2016

The Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC) is requesting feedback on how to define interoperability under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act 2015 (MACRA).  MACRA made interoperability a national objective and set a July 1 deadline for HHS to create metrics to measure the progress of interoperability.

The request for information (ROI) asks for input on three specific topics:

  • Measurement population and key components that should be measured
  • Current data sources and potential metrics
  • Other data sources and metrics ONC should consider


The ONC plans to develop metrics that will allow it to assess interoperability adoption among eligible professionals and other eligible participants in CMS’ meaningful use programs. It plans to create measures relating to the exchange of health information and information that has been exchanged through common standards.

Although the ONC expects the metrics it develops will support the requirements set out in MACRA, it acknowledges that interoperability needs to be measured in populations and settings that are outside the scope of MACRA. The agency hopes to use the feedback collected through this ROI to create measures that will meet the goals it described in the Interoperability Roadmap.

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