CMS Administrator Seema Verma wants healthcare providers to be fax-free by 2020, she said during a keynote address Aug. 6 at the annual interoperability forum hosted by HHS' ONC, according to the Politico Morning eHealth newsletter.
Ms. Verma did not describe how the agency would accomplish the goal, but said a healthcare system without fax machines would enhance the seamless exchange of health data.
"Once information is freely flowing from the patient to the provider, the advances in coordinated value-based and patient-centric care will be even greater than anything we can imagine today," Ms. Verma said during her speech.
She added that CMS is still fielding applications for its newly-created chief health information officer role, which would head up an "interoperability tag team," according to Politico.