ONC-Nurtured Population Health Tool Gains Traction

An open source software program created with the help of the HHS Office of the National Coordinator is now federally certified and ready to be used as a population health tool.

First developed in 2010, the program, called popHealth, imports data, then calculates, displays, and exports it as electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs), using Cypress, the same open source engine the ONC uses to certify eCQM functionality in EHRS.

Developed and certified in partnership with Northwestern University, popHealth “is in some ways a simple piece of software,” as ONC public health analyst John Rancourt wrote in a blog announcing the certification for meaningful use. "However, it is highly sophisticated and versatile because it is standards driven and it leverages the same quality measure engine as Cypress."