Modernizing Public Health Data Systems Following COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the dire need for health care and public health to be interconnected with interoperable IT systems. This article walks through progress since the pandemic and describes opportunities to achieve a future of connectivity with public health dataset standardization, enabling FHIR, and the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). (New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst, 7/17)
Health IT Learnings From the Microsoft CrowdStrike Outage
Following the July 2024 CrowdStrike outage impacting Microsoft Windows computers worldwide including hospital and clinic systems, lessons learned should be considered to inform future response and recovery practices. Prevention approaches may include upfront due diligence and incident response planning for single failure points, increased cybersecurity measures such as security patches and audits, and reviewing third-party vendor agreements to strengthen privacy and security obligations. (TechTarget, 7/31)
Addressing Racial Bias in Clinical Algorithms
As clinical algorithms become more widespread, assurances are needed to promote health equity with race-based considerations to view race as a social construct and incorporate social determinants of health (SDOH) indicators to address potential bias and harms. Industry efforts are currently underway to develop equitable clinical guidelines with a race-conscious approach, underscoring a need for practice transformation and stakeholder buy-in to tackle health disparities. (TechTarget, 7/17)
New USCDI Version 5 Data Element Standards Released
In July 2024, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC), published United States Core Data for Interoperability Version 5 (USCDI v5) to advance standardized data elements for HIE on a national level. USCDI v5 includes two new data classes, Observations and Orders, and 16 new data elements under the following classes: Clinical Notes, Immunizations, Medications, Patient Demographics/Information, and Provenance. (ASTP/ONC, July 2024)
