All posts by EHR Association
The EHR Association shares the following statement regarding the White House’s “Make Health Tech Great Again” event hosted by CMS and announcing a collaborative effort to “begin laying the foundation for a next-generation digital health ecosystem that will improve patient outcomes, reduce provider burden, and drive value.”
The EHR Association welcomes the Administration’s innovative thinking on how to accelerate health data interoperability and information sharing and commends the developer community’s proactive commitment to this voluntary pledge. By expanding access pathways—from patient-facing applications to provider EHRs to payer claims management systems—and encouraging adoption of advanced AI and digital tools, the ‘Make Health Tech Great Again” initiative promises to accelerate progress toward a more connected and transparent healthcare ecosystem. We look forward to working alongside CMS, ASTP/ONC, and other stakeholders to learn more about implementing this important initiative.
– Leigh Burchell of Altera Digital Health, Chair of the EHR Association
Posted by EHR Association on July 30, 2025
https://ehrablog.org/2025/07/30/ehr-association-statement-on-the-white-house-make-health-tech-great-again-event-and-vendor-pledge/
The EHR Association shares the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s “Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan,” which was released yesterday (July 23, 2025) by the White House.
“The EHR Association commends the administration for its commitment to advancing safe, effective, and innovative AI. As we evaluate the implications of the AI Action Plan for our member companies, their healthcare provider clients, and, most importantly, patients, we reiterate our call for a uniform, risk-based regulatory model at the federal level. Fragmented state mandates risk slowing innovation and complicating compliance, which could deter innovation and adoption. We look forward to collaborating with regulatory agencies and impacted stakeholders to determine the best path forward in achieving the goals of the AI Action Plan.”
– Leigh Burchell of Altera Digital Health, Chair of the EHR Association
Posted by EHR Association on July 24, 2025
https://ehrablog.org/2025/07/24/ehr-association-statement-on-the-ai-action-plan/
By the EHR Association Information Blocking Compliance Task Force
This blog marks the beginning of a series by the EHR Association on information blocking – what it is and what the “reasonable and necessary activities” are that constitute exceptions as defined by ASTP/ONC regulations. Given that it has been five years since the initial release of information blocking regulations and the recent renewal of focus on enforcing the law, this is an opportune time for a refresher on the topic.
Our goal with this series is to educate our membership and other impacted stakeholders on information blocking requirements and exceptions. This first installment shares the history and description of information blocking requirements. Future blogs will illustrate how we expect exceptions to be used and will highlight ambiguities and/or challenges with the framework that we believe will be insightful to regulators and other interested parties.
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Posted by EHR Association on July 14, 2025
https://ehrablog.org/2025/07/14/what-is-information-blocking/
Dr. Thomas Keane has been named Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). An engineer and physician, Dr. Keane previously served in ASTP and also as a Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of HHS.
“The EHR Association congratulates Dr. Thomas Keane on his appointment as Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy at HHS and National Coordinator for Health IT. Dr. Keane brings important expertise in health policy to the role,” says Leigh Burchell (Altera Digital Health), Chair of the EHR Association Executive Committee. “We’re pleased that his selection reflects HHS’ commitment to putting leadership in place that both recognizes the criticality of the ‘coordinator’ responsibilities and understands from prior experience the many complex use cases related to health data interoperability that the agency is tasked with supporting. We look forward to collaborating with Dr. Keane and ASTP to further the digitization of healthcare and explore regulatory refinements.”
Among other duties, Keane was an administrator of the COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund and led the development of the AHRQ National Nursing Home COVID Action Network. Dr. Keane worked as a finite element software developer and enterprise software engineer before training as an interventional radiologist.
Posted by EHR Association on June 3, 2025
https://ehrablog.org/2025/06/03/dr-thomas-keane-to-lead-astp-onc/
By the EHR Association Privacy & Security Workgroup
This three-part blog series shares the EHR Association’s stance on OCR’s proposed changes to the HIPAA Security Rule. Part one focused on our overarching concerns and issues with proposed definitions. Part two and this installment highlight our concerns with OCR’s proposed expectations.
The HIPAA Security Rule is overdue for modernization, given the rapid pace of technological change and increasing cybersecurity threats. While we support OCR’s intent to strengthen protections for electronic protected health information (ePHI), our analysis of the HIPAA Security Rule to Strengthen the Cybersecurity of Electronic Protected Health Information raised concerns and questions we hope will be addressed before finalization.
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Posted by EHR Association on May 9, 2025
https://ehrablog.org/2025/05/09/hipaa-security-rule-part-three-risk-based-and-industry-aligned-approaches-recommended/
By the EHR Association Privacy & Security Workgroup
This three-part blog series shares the EHR Association’s stance on OCR’s proposed changes to the HIPAA Security Rule. Part one focused on our overarching concerns and issues with proposed definitions. Part two focuses on several of the proposed standards.
Our analysis of proposed changes to the existing HIPAA Security Rule, released as HIPAA Security Rule to Strengthen the Cybersecurity of Electronic Protected Health Information, revealed a mixed bag of positive changes and areas of concern. In the first installment of this blog series, we noted the EHR Association’s appreciation for its enhancements to the cybersecurity baseline. However, we expressed concern about the resources and costs required for regulated entities to comply with the overhauled mandates. We also reviewed the feedback we shared with OCR on its proposed changes to key definitions.
In this installment, we highlight our concerns with several of OCR’s proposed expectations, drawing attention to the need for greater clarity and offering recommendations to ease compliance burdens while achieving intended outcomes.
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Posted by EHR Association on April 30, 2025
https://ehrablog.org/2025/04/30/hipaa-security-rule-part-two-proposed-changes-require-clarity-flexibility/
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