July 24, 2025 – The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) has announced the release of United States Core Data for Interoperability version 6 (USCDI v6), developed in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
This latest update builds on USCDI’s mission to create a stronger foundation for the exchange, use, and access of electronic health information (EHI). The enhancements are designed to support better patient care, promote precision treatment, and strengthen global health data interoperability.
Key Enhancements in USCDI v6
Expanded Medical Device Data
Implantable device data now covers all medical devices, including non-implantable ones. This will make it easier to identify devices uniquely, track conditions, and enable more precise treatments.
Portable Medical Orders
New data elements help capture urgent, life-saving care orders such as “Do Not Resuscitate” or “Comfort Measures Only”, ensuring care teams can act quickly in emergencies.
Improved Facility Data
Facility information can now be used to track health outcomes and care quality, as well as monitor a facility’s capacity, including the number of available ventilators and beds.
Enhanced Care Plans
Patients can now collaborate with clinicians, caregivers, and family members to create care plans that document needs, treatment goals, and strategies to address unmet needs.
Onset Date Tracking
The new “Date of Onset” element captures when symptoms first appeared, allowing clinicians to better calculate condition duration and improve diagnostic accuracy.
Family Health History
Structured data will now help identify hereditary conditions, supporting more proactive care strategies.
- Additional Technical Updates
Medication Orders now use RxNorm as the standard. - “Fill Status” has been updated to “Dispense Status”.
- Advance Directive Observation is now part of the Preferences and Goals data class.
- Planned Data Class and Patient Summary have been moved under Care Plan.
LOINC is now the standard for clinical test orders, lab orders, and diagnostic imaging orders.
Updated definitions and usage notes for elements like coverage type, patient goals, result unit of measure, specimen condition acceptability, and SDOH assessment.
What’s Next?
ONC has confirmed that USCDI v7 is already in development. The ONDEC submission system remains open for public recommendations on new data elements.
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