Most healthcare providers are aware of the important role of digital health in enhancing healthcare efficiency. Yet more than half of healthcare providers still do not have a health IT roadmap — despite the proposed roadmap released in January by the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Analysis by research firm Frost & Sullivan suggests connected health infrastructure is "emerging as a binding agent for diverse devices and workflows, aiding diagnosis, monitoring and prevention in the healthcare industry," Healthcare Informatics reports.

According to ONC, a majority of the comments released from the comment period of the roadmap were generally positive, and buy-in from the healthcare community has been generally accepted. The roadmap was created to deliver better care and "healthier people" through the safe and secure exchange and use of electronic health information, ONC says.

At its base, the ONC roadmap is designed to build on the vision paper, "Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A 10-Year Vision to Achieve an Interoperable Health IT Infrastructure," issued in June 2014.

"To realize better care and the vision of a learning health system, we will work together across the public and private sectors to clearly define standards, motivate their use through clear incentives, and establish trust in the health IT ecosystem through defining the rules of engagement," Karen DeSalvo, M.D., national coordinator for health IT, said in a statement in January.

"We look forward to working collaboratively and systematically with federal, state and private sector partners to see that electronic health information is available when and where it matters."

However, like any mission statement-type document, the roadmap "calls for ONC to identify the best available technical standards for core interoperability functions." It was designed in concert with the "Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020" and is based on a core set of building blocks that are needed to achieve interoperability:

  • Core technical standards and functions;
  • Certification to support adoption and optimization of health IT products and services;
  • Privacy and security protections for health information;
  • Supportive business, clinical, cultural, and regulatory environments; and
  • Rules of engagement and governance.

However, for such an infrastructure to be efficient, stakeholders must first ensure that interoperability and connectivity standards are in place, the Frost & Sullivan report found.

Another recent survey by the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange drew responses from 372 healthcare organizations, including statements such as:

  • Blending structured and unstructured data are challenging;
  • Electronic health records often require manual intervention to be matched successfully;
  • Health data encryption lags;
  • Most providers use Direct for exchanging health information internally; and
  • Providers often are unable to exchange health data electronically with non-affiliated groups

Further, less than half of respondents said electronic information exchange has improved performance measures.

WEDI in a letter said it strongly supports ONC's efforts to advance interoperability, but that the roadmap should "better reflect the realities, gaps, challenges and opportunities across the current landscape."

In addition, WEDI noted the need for:

  • A standardized process for patient ID matching;
  • Market forces and value-based care models that will drive interoperability;
  • More evaluation about balancing burden and value of choice in patient access to data; and
  • Partnerships to improve health IT education and literacy within the industry.