The proposed MACRA rule has created a lot of buzz - not all positive - in the healthcare IT industry as we approach the latter months of 2016. With a proposed start date of Jan. 1, 2017, many healthcare professionals are scrambling to get their heads around the impact MACRA will have on their practice. 
MACRA has also inadvertently overshadowed other healthcare IT topics such as interoperability. No matter what the final rule for MACRA looks like, interoperability figures to play a big role in the future of healthcare IT, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
After receiving nearly 100 comments from industry colleagues, many of the comments consisted of four common themes:
- Burden - Do not create significant additional reporting burdens for providers and clinicians
- Scope - Broaden the scope of measurement to include individuals and providers not eligible for incentive programs
- Outcomes - Identify measures that go beyond exchange of health information
- Complexity - Recognize the complexity of measuring interoperability
Based on these themes, ONC decided on two measures decided on two measures that are most appropriate for measuring EMR interoperability under MACRA:
Measure #1: Proportion of health care providers who are electronically engaging in the following core domains of interoperable exchange of health information: sending; receiving; finding (querying); and integrating information received from outside sources.
Measure #2: Proportion of health care providers who report using the information they electronically receive from outside providers and sources for clinical decision-making.
For more information and updates on MACRA, stay tuned to the Nextech Blog.