Health information exchange will ramp up significantly in 2012 because the necessary elements of interoperability will be in place, ONC chief Farzad Mostashari, told the Health IT Policy Committee at a meeting Feb. 1.

The health information exchange strategy means finally bringing together the standards, identity authentication certificates, governance for rules of the road, and the availability of directories or digital provider phone books.

These will enable providers to exchange information whether through a simple transaction for a referral or sharing a test with another provider or a more complex query for patient data.

via Health Care IT News, continued here.