WEDI Conference on CMS-0057-F Highlights Critical Industry Issues. WEDI held its annual Summer Forum in Chicago on August 5-6 with over 350 attendees participating in the informative event focused on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Advancing Interoperability and Improving Prior Authorization Processes Final Rule (CMS-0057-F). Attendees also had the special opportunity to interact with David Koppel from the CMS Office of Burden Reduction and Health Informatics in a listening session on CMS-0057-F topics covering business needs, testing, standards, electronic health record (EHR) certification, and other regulations. The X12 CEO Cathy Shepard also provided an update on the 008060 version of the X12 HIPAA administrative transactions and modifications to the standards development process. ​A highlight of the event was the presentation of an award to former WEDI President and CEO Charles Stellar. The event was sponsored by Platinum sponsors Edifecs, InterSystems, and Itiliti Health; Gold sponsors 1up Health, Drummond Group, and Onyx; and Silver sponsor, Tennr. WEDI’s next conference is November 3-6 in Washington, DC with a virtual option.

ASTP/ONC to Host HTI-4 Information Session on August 12. The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC) will host a virtual information session on August 12 at 1:00 pm ET on the “Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: Electronic Prescribing, Real-Time Prescription Benefit and Electronic Prior Authorization” (HTI-4) final rule. The HTI-4 final rule was published in the Federal Register on August 4 as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 CMS Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule. It finalizes proposals for new and updated health information technology (IT) certification criteria for electronic prior authorization, electronic prescribing, and real-time prescription benefit information. It also includes several related criteria for application program interface functionality and finalizes the adoption of additional standards that support the exchange of clinical and administrative information with payers. Go here to register for the program.

ASTP/ONC Announces TEFCA Participant Map. Steven Posnak and Jawanna Henry from ASTP/ONC posted a new HealthITbuzz blog  announcing the availability of a beta version of an interactive, searchable map for Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA™) participants. The map, which uses TEFCA’s organizational directory, enables searches for participants in TEFCA. Searches can be made by organization name, address, or zip code. The map will be updated weekly as new participants are added. ASTP/ONC also plans to add more features to the map in the future. According to the agency, over 9,200 different organizations from 10 Qualified Health Information Networks® have signed up to participate in TEFCA Exchange. The organizations represent over 41,000 unique connections to clinicians, hospitals, other provider facilities, public health entities, and more.

CMS to Conduct Listening Session on Opportunities for Real-Time Claims Processing and EDI Cybersecurity Controls. CMS is holding a listening session on August 13 at 3:00 pm ET to gather feedback from the industry on experiences with real-time claims processing and improvements to Medicare’s Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) cybersecurity controls. For claims processing, they are interested in information on other insurers’ real-time claims processing solutions. For EDI, they are looking for input on improving their processes for strengthening cybersecurity controls to better protect Medicare claims and other sensitive data. Go here for more information and to register for the virtual event.

HHS and CMS Shares Vision for Health Care. In a video posted on July 25 to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) YouTube channel, Amy Gleason, Strategic Advisor to HHS and CMS, shared a vision of health care that HHS and CMS are working to achieve. The vision includes digital advancements that will enable patients to share their medical records with clinicians via a QR code on their smart phone and use artificial intelligence (AI) tools for care planning and medication management. According to HHS, these advancements are dependent on improving the current health IT infrastructure to remove administrative burden and support a more efficient, secure, and patient-centered system.

Senate HELP Committee Holds Hearing on Making Health Care Affordable. The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on July 31 titled “Making Health Care Affordable: Solutions to Lower Costs and Empower Patients.” Among several topics, price transparency of health care services was highlighted as an issue for affordability for patients. Witnesses spoke about the status of the hospital price transparency regulation and the role it can play in providing comparison data for purchasers of insurance. An assertion was made by one of the witnesses that having this data available publicly supports system and behavioral changes that can reduce costs and improve the quality of patient care. Go here to read the testimony and watch the hearing.

NIST-Led Consortium Issues Draft Software Security Guidelines. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) is leading a consortium of 14 organizations to create software that is secure against cyber breaches and malicious code. The Software Supply Chain and DevOps Security Practices Consortium is part of NIST’s response to a White House Executive Order on strengthening the nation's cybersecurity. The guidelines, once finalized, aim to improve security throughout the software development cycle. A draft version of the guidelines is available and NIST is accepting public comments until September 12. NIST is also holding a virtual event on August 27 at 1:00 p.m. ET to review the project and gather feedback. Registration for the event is available here.

Feds Issue Joint Cybersecurity Advisory on Interlock. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, HHS, and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (authoring organizations) issued a joint Cybersecurity Advisory on the Interlock ransomware as part of their ongoing #StopRansomware effort. The advisory provides details on various ransomware variants and the criminals to help organizations protect themselves against the threats. Interlock targets various businesses, critical infrastructure, and other organizations by using ransomware designed for Windows and Linux operating systems. Cyber criminals can access business systems from compromised legitimate websites and use social engineering techniques to trick the targets into compromising their system in a way that gives the criminals access to credentials and other systems on the network. Cyber criminals can then encrypt systems and pressure the victims to pay the ransom so they can restore access to their systems and prevent their data from being leaked.