5 takeaways from the White House hearing on interoperability

The White House began EHR interoperability discussions Tuesday when Jared Kushner, senior presidential advisor, and Seema Verma, CMS administrator, met with health IT leaders from the private and public sectors.

The meeting revealed few details of the White Houses' plans, though, according to meeting attendees who spoke with Politico Morning eHealth Newsletter.

Here are five things to know.

1. The meeting's agenda included topics on the government's role in championing interoperability, as well as establishing realistic timeframes. Technical standards necessary to support data sharing, ways to engage patients and physicians, and how to encourage public and private partnerships were also discussed.

2. Topics such as getting data into patients' hands, were revisited, but EHR certification and meaningful use require more discussion, Stan Huff, MD, the chief medical informatics officer at Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, told Politico.

3. "Remember, this topic — enabling patients to access and use their records — is not particularly partisan or divisive. But getting it done requires leadership," an Obama-era health official, Aneesh Chopra, told Politico. "I have confidence that this initiative will deliver results."

4. Notable attendees included: Former ONC head Farzad Mostashari, MD; HHS' Counselor to Secretary for Public Health and Science Mary-Sumpter Lapinski; ONC head Don Rucker, MD; CMS' Chief of Clinical Standards and Quality Kate Goodrich, MD; and Acting HHS Secretary Eric Hargan. In addition, representatives from The Sequoia Project and Cerner were in attendance.

5. The CommonWell Alliance and Epic, however, were not at the meeting. According to Politico, an Epic official was invited but overlooked the email. Epic rushed another representative to the event, but without clearance, he could not get in.

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