Interoperability

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 defines interoperability as the ability of two or more health information systems or components to exchange clinical and other information and to use the information that has been exchanged using common standards such as to provide access to longitudinal information for health care providers to facilitate coordinated care and improved patient outcomes. Interoperability is also defined in section 3000 of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) (42 U.S.C. 300jj), as amended by section 4003 of the Cures Act. Under that definition, ‘‘interoperability’’, with respect to health IT, means such health IT that enables the secure exchange of electronic health information with, and use of electronic health information from, other health IT without special effort on the part of the user; allows for complete access, exchange, and use of all electronically accessible health information for authorized use under applicable state or federal law; and does not constitute information blocking as defined in section 3022(a) of the PHSA, which was added by section 4004 of the Cures Act Source:(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2019).