ONC seeks comments on Draft USCDI Version 5

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is asking for feedback on its draft United States Core Data for Interoperability, Version 5. It’s also looking for examples of code sets used by health IT developers and implementers to communicate data, the agency said.

ONC, which is accepting comments until April 15, is targeting the release of the final USCDI v5 for July 2024.

WHY IT MATTERS

The Draft USCDI v5 is focused on the addition of standardized health data classes and constituent data elements that improve patient care and facilitate patient access. 

According to Thursday’s ONC Standards Bulletin, the agency received more than 60 submissions recommending new data elements and over 330 comments on previously submitted data elements that it considered in the development of the draft dataset.

ONC’s evaluated the submissions in the fourth quarter of 2023 and is proposing two data classes and 13 data elements in the update.

ONC is asking for suggestions for improvement in the data classes or elements in Draft USCDI v5, including data class and element definitions, usage notes and examples as well as examples of code sets used by health IT developers.

In the draft, ONC asks stakeholders for feedback, including: “Should other data elements, already classified as Level 2 on the USCDI web pages, be added to USCDI v5 instead of, or in addition to, those in Draft USCDI v5? If so, why?”

ONC also asked about barriers to the development, implementation or use of any of these data elements and if they warrant a change in definition or removal from Draft USCDI v5.

The agency noted that it will work with the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee, or HITAC, to garner feedback on the draft.

THE LARGER TREND

ONC most recently published USCDI v4 this past July, after receiving nearly 600 comments, including many from HITAC.

The agency raised the baseline for its HIT certification program by including USCDI v3 in the recently finalized Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: Certification Program Updates, Algorithm Transparency, and Information Sharing Final Rule, or HTI-1. 

HTI-1 establishes that USCDI v3 will be the only USCDI version required within the Certification Program as of January 1, 2026. Version 3 includes adds sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, along with other data elements.

With the new certification rule, ONC also adopted: 

• HL7 FHIR US Core 6.1.0, which aligns with USCDI v3 data elements for FHIR APIs. 
• Substitutable Medical Applications, Reusable Technologies App Launch Implementation Guide.
• Updated terminology standards in Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms, U.S. Edition.

“This final rule revises several program certification criteria, including criteria related to decision support, electronic case reporting and standards-based [APIs] as well as raises the baseline version of the USCDI from Version 1 to Version 3,” ONC said in the final HTI-1 rule’s executive summary.

ON THE RECORD

“ONC continues to work with the public and federal agencies to identify areas where more work is needed to inform future versions of USCDI,” said agency officials in the draft. “ONC recognizes there are specific but important use cases that require consistency and alignment on datasets that go beyond USCDI.”