White House data sharing plan boasts big ambitions, but has scant details

The Trump administration’s initiative to boost health data sharing could be a boon for interoperability, but the plan so far lacks detail — and challenges like data security, under-resourced providers and slow technology uptake could be barriers to success, experts say.

The initiative, announced late last month at the White House by leaders of the HHS and CMS, aims to improve long-standing challenges with health data exchange through partnerships with more than 60 companies, including firms like Amazon, Google, Epic and UnitedHealth.

The plan includes two large focus areas: encouraging adoption of a voluntary blueprint for data sharing called the CMS Interoperability Framework and increasing the availability of digital health tools, like products for chronic disease management and care