On July 24, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) announced a new version of the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI, also known as USCDI v6). According to a statement from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), the USCDI is stewarded and adopted by ASTP/ONC on behalf of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), establishing the foundation for the access, exchange, and use of Electronic Health Information (EHI) to enable nationwide interoperable health information exchange (HIE).

What’s New in USCDI v6?

• The Unique Device Identifier – Implantable data element has been expanded to include all medical devices, including non-implantable devices. 
• The Portable Medical Order data element has been added to address situations in which patients nearing the end of life or with a life-threatening condition require orders such as “do-not-resuscitate” or “comfort measures only.” 
• The Facility Address data element identifies specific service locations. This data element can be used to track care quality and health outcomes and can be leveraged to monitor facility-level capacity, including the availability of beds and ventilators.
• A Care Plan details a patient’s needs and goals, as well as the strategies for meeting them. Patients create care plans in conjunction with their clinicians, family members, and other caregivers.
• Date of Onset is the actual or estimated date when signs or symptoms of a condition first manifested. This data element can be used to determine the duration of a condition. Condition duration can be used to support the development of differential diagnosis.
• The Family Health History data element captures the health conditions of family members relevant to a patient’s care.

Additionally, ASTP/ONC adopted the following updates to USCDI v6:

• Medication Order includes RxNorm as the applicable standard
• Laboratory Order, Diagnostic Imaging Order, and Clinical Test Order include LOINC as the applicable standard
• Fill Status has been renamed to Dispense Status
• Advance Directive Observation has been moved to the Goals and Preferences data class
• The Patient Summary and Plan data class has been renamed to Care Plan
• Changes have been made to the following data elements, including definitions, examples, and usage notes: Performance Time, SDOH Assessment, Result Unit of Measure, Coverage Type, Patient Goals, Specimen Condition Acceptability, and Reaction.

The upcoming cycle to update USCDI to Version 7 has begun. The ONDEC submission system is now open and accepting recommendations for data elements. The open comment period concludes on Monday, September 29.