This March, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) jointly released federal rules designed to improve how health care organizations collect and share patient data. The more than 2,000 pages of rules are significant in their breadth and depth, and they affect nearly every entity in the US health care system.

Understandably, many health plans and providers were busy preparing for COVID-19 when the rules were finalized, and many people are still unaware of the rules’ impending deadlines and significant implications for organizations’ data technologies, policies, and protocols. CHCF has heard from Medi-Cal plans and safety-net providers that many feel unprepared to comply with these standards.

In an effort to advance that preparedness, CHCF has funded educational and technical assistance efforts. The first one was producing this slide deck to provide a high-level introduction to these complex rules with a focus on implications for health plans, which face some of the earliest and more daunting compliance deadlines. The presentation contains information relevant to other types of health care entities as well, and CHCF encourages organizations to download the slides to inform their staffs about the work that lies ahead.

For additional updates and resources related to data exchange, subscribe to CHCF’s newsletter on this topic.

Note: According to recent comments by the ONC, some of these deadlines may be delayed due to continued COVID-19 pressures facing health plans and providers.