Recently, NIH issued a guide notice (NOT-OD-20-146) encouraging NIH-supported clinical programs and researchers to adopt and use the standardized set of healthcare data classes, data elements, and associated vocabulary standards in the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) standard. This standard will make it easier to exchange health information for research and clinical care, and is required under the Office of the National Coordinator Health Information Technology (ONC) Cures Act Final Rule to support seamless and secure access, exchange, and use of electronic health information.
USCDI standardizes health data classes and data elements that make sharing health information across the country interoperable, expands on data long required to be supported by certified EHRs, and incorporates health data standards developed.
NLM is proud to support USCDI through continued efforts to establish and maintain clinical terminology standards within the Department of Health and Human Services.
Standardized health data classes and elements enable collaboration, make it easier to aggregate research data, and enhance the discoverability of groundbreaking research. USCDI adoption will allow care delivery and research organizations to use the same coding systems for key data elements that are part of the USCDI data classes.
I encourage you to read more about the new guide notice in a joint post developed in collaboration with my NIH and ONC colleagues titled: “Leveraging Standardized Clinical Data to Advance Discovery.” And I ask you to consider, what could this notice mean for you?