Electronic Health Reporter

Smile CDR, a leading health data storage and integration company, today announced the successful implementation of its clinical data repository (CDR) platform across 20 U.S. payer databases.

The platform updates allowed customers to effectively meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule (CMS-9115-F) compliance enforcement deadline of July 1, 2021. The new CMS rule addresses barriers to the secure exchange of health information that limit the ability of patients to access essential health information.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to help customers standardize data capabilities that improve patient access to their own health information,” said Duncan Weatherston, chief executive officer at Smile CDR. “It is critical that we keep our customers at the center of what we do as we move one step closer to creating a common information exchange playing field.”

In June, Smile CDR became the first company to receive the Drummond Certification of Compliance, certifying interoperability and compliance with CMS Final Rule standards and reducing the risk payers, providers, developers, and applications may not be truly interoperable or only partially interoperable in real-world settings.

Under the CMS Final Rule, U.S. government health plans must have an interoperable Patient Access Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR) API to provide patients easy and secure access to their records.