ONC will have NHIN Direct HIE standards for small providers ready for testing this fall

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology this summer is wrapping up data transmission protocols and other technical details for NHIN Direct, the health information exchange protocol being developed for small physician practices. The office will release NHIN Direct specifications late in the summer in anticipation of live testing this fall, an ONC official said.

"Real-world demonstrations help us tackle problems related to the specific interchange we're looking for," Dr. Doug Fridsma, acting director of interoperability and standards at ONC, said at a Government Health IT conference in Washington last week, the namesake publication reports.

Fridsma said that NHIN Direct is intended to help practices achieve "meaningful use" of health IT by simplifying HIE tools and allowing small providers to participate in the Nationwide Health Information Network. "The NHIN Direct project only solves one piece of the puzzle," according to Fridsma. "We're focused on secure routing of information from one provider to another or lab or hospital."

Over the next couple of months, ONC will be wrapping up some of the technical work necessary to make NHIN Direct a reality and will have to make some decisions on what functions to include in the tool set. "We have to figure out how to write a letter and package it up and put it in the envelope. And you have to figure out where to send it, and may have to look it up to find the address where to send it," Fridsma explained.

He also talked about government agencies and large health systems adopting NHIN Exchange, a series of HIE tools and technical specifications that have been in development for several years.

For more information:
- take a look at this Government Health IT story

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