ONC Staff Profiles – Carmen Smiley

The Place of work of the Countrywide Coordinator is launching a new blog series that includes ONC staff members called Inside of ONC. Inside of ONC will emphasize an inclusive landscape of ONC staff customers, a wide range of positions, and the various backgrounds of those performing inside ONC. 

Title: Carmen Smiley
ONC Office: Office environment of Technology, Requirements Division
Title: IT Specialist

How does your division/office suit into ONC?

The Benchmarks Division acts as the primary resource for requirements assessment, progress, progression, and complex aid for ONC, federal and state companions, and other stakeholders across the health care marketplace.

Notify us about your operate at ONC.

I guide and coordinate initiatives involving individual matching and pharmacy interoperability. My perform connects me with all kinds of people today – from my ONC colleagues to federal partners to various marketplace stakeholders – supplying them with direction, specialized guidance, and investigate. I’m also the staff members direct for Job US@, a new, business-led “tech spec” that could be utilised across marketplace for symbolizing individual addresses. You may have just lately observed me presenting to the HITAC Interoperability Specifications Workgroup, the USCDI Workgroup, or the Quick Identification & Matching Tiger Team.

What has led you to your career here at ONC?

Even though performing at the Indian Health Provider and Children’s National Medical center in DC, my colleagues and I confronted major challenges with health IT adoption, implementation, upkeep, assessment, reporting, and interoperability. At the exact same time, I observed countless alternatives in what the long term could glimpse like for health facts, individual matching and history linkage, and other locations. Although I located my do the job worthwhile, I actively sought out chances to aid tackle these challenge and devise options to advance the field as a full. When I utilized to my present situation, it was my 200^th software for a federal position. I leverage that identical perseverance in my perform each working day.

What expertise and strengths do you keep that add value to your operate portfolio?

I’m properly trained in anthropology, analysis, and info science, so I have a unique potential to see issues and opportunities from a non-specialized and technical viewpoint. I’m also hyper analytical, imaginative, independent, curious, and I enjoy trouble resolving. I have in excess of 26 yrs of expertise in healthcare and have lived and labored on four continents.

What is a function-similar accomplishment you are most very pleased of? & Why?

I’ve experienced quite a few accomplishments about the many years at ONC that I am proud of, but one the latest accomplishment is the release of the Challenge US@ Complex Specification and Companion Manual in January 2022. The finest feat of Undertaking US@ wasn’t essentially the growth and publication of the specification and manual, but the skill to coalesce and attain consensus among a extensive selection of stakeholders on how to capture and characterize addresses across the marketplace.

What would you say is the finest section of doing the job for ONC?

Some of the greatest components of performing for ONC is the autonomy I have about my perform and the capacity to regularly find out.

How would you characterize ONC’s achievement?

I consider ONC’s success may be in the positive influence our do the job has experienced on federal companies and the marketplace as they perform towards criteria adoption and interoperability.

What is a job you are now performing on and how does it in good shape into ONC mission?

One challenge that I am working on is USCDI as the Affected individual Demographics Information Course Lead. The USCDI is a standardized set of health facts classes and components for nationwide interoperable health exchange. Much of my get the job done on USCDI consists of engaging stakeholders, adjudicating general public reviews, conducting study, and performing to include new, superior-value facts factors to assistance individual matching and record linkage, id integrity, and equity. Accurate patient matching is a foundational prerequisite for nationwide interoperability.

How does ONC assist your qualified development?

I’ve had quite a few prospects above the decades to get on new assignments in areas totally unfamiliar to me, lending alternatives to create relationships with a wide range of folks and corporations, see health IT from different views, gain expertise and expertise, and guideline federal associates and other market stakeholders.

What are the main values of ONC that are significant to you?

The ONC main worth that could be most usually utilized in observe each working day is teamwork. We get the job done collectively on a variety of problems that are really advanced and therefore rely on a multidisciplinary staff to clear up.  We get to our complete likely when we perform together, relying on our individual strengths to achieve our collective ideal.

Are there any added gains of doing work at ONC that you’d like to point out?

The possibility to lead significant function and potential to have national affect.