Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP)

The Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) permits health IT developers to voluntarily update health IT products certified under the ONC Health IT Certification Program (Certification Program) to newer versions of adopted standards as part of the “Real World Testing” Condition and Maintenance of Certification requirement (§ 170.405) of the 21st Century Cures Act.

Using SVAP, Certified Health IT developers are permitted to voluntarily use a newer approved version of a standard than is adopted in regulation. Currently, this flexibility is limited to standards that are adopted in the certification criteria required to meet the “Real World Testing” Condition of Certification, which include § 170.315(b), (c)(1) through (c)(3), (e)(1), (f), (g)(7) through (g)(10), and (h).

Certified Health IT developers taking advantage of the SVAP flexibility must ensure that their Real World Testing plans and results of the Certified Health IT Modules address these updated standards. Additionally, developers updating their already Certified Health IT Modules are required to provide advance notice to their clients and ONC-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) before adopting a newer approved version of a standard.

Working with industry stakeholders, ONC has developed a collaborative public comment process to identify newer versions of standards that are ready for use in the Certification Program. For additional information on the annual process, including the list of standards and versions eligible for consideration, please visit the SVAP Process Page.

Learn more about the recent 2023 updates to SVAP via the following resources:

• SVAP Fact Sheet
• Approved Standards for 2023
• Blog Post Announcing Approved Standards for 2023
• Approved Standards for 2022 and Approved Standards for 2020
• ONC Standards Bulletin: Sign up for and also view previous alerts for healthcare stakeholders that include updates about ONC health IT standards initiatives such as the SVAP.

Approved SVAP Versions

All the standards in the table below are currently available for voluntary certification under the Certification Program. The 2023 approved SVAP versions were announced July 11, 2023 and went into effect on September 11, 2023. Once effective, any newer versions of approved standards replace existing approved standards from previous years.

For the ONC Health IT Certification Program, developers may certify using the following standards under the Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) until December 31, 2023:

●  United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), Version 2, July 2021

●  HL7® CDA R2 Implementation Guide: C-CDA Templates for Clinical Notes R2.1 Companion Guide, Release 3-US Realm, May 2022

●  HL7® FHIR® US Core Implementation Guide STU 5.0.1, June 2022

Certification testing tools for SVAP 2023 approved standards (e.g., USCDI v3 and related standards) may be released before that date, but the option to certify using the above listed standards will remain available until December 31, 2023. After December 31, 2023, developers will no longer be able to certify using the above listed standards via SVAP.

Additionally, the SVAP approved standard of HL7® FHIR® US Core Implementation Guide STU 4.0.0, June 2021 will continue to remain available for certification via SVAP while the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), Version 1, July 2020 Errata remains available for use in the Certification Program as a standard adopted in regulation.