Follow Up from the DPC Office Hour

[Jimmy McConnell]

Dear DPC Google Group members, 

      Thank you to everyone who joined and participated in the DPC Office Hour! The DPC team is so grateful for all of the information that our users were able to share with us; this information will be instrumental in helping the DPC team develop an API Auth solution that works best for our users. 

     Below are some of the questions and responses that were posed during the Office Hour for those that were unable to make it. I have also included a brief description of what I believe was the consensus for some of the topics that we wanted to get feedback on. 

     Please feel free to post responses in this thread if you disagree with, or otherwise have information that might help the DPC team best formulate an API Auth solution that is user friendly for DPC’s Provider Organization users and their associated Health IT Vendors (or internal IT team). 

Office Hour Q&A:

1. Do you know when DPC will be open for wider production access? 

   1. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a firm timeline at this time. DPC is accepting applications for pilot production access (https://airtable.com/shr3m3BL3IWY5hYnm) throughout the end of 2020 and continuing into 2021. We are hoping to release wider production access to the DPC API in late 2021. 

2. How will the pilot project work? How many providers can join and how long does it last?

   1. Any FFS provider can request access to synthetic data in the DPC Sandbox environment. 

      1. The provider and/or their vendor develops and tests the functionality in the synthetic sandbox.

   2. When the provider/vendor feel that they are ready to request production access, they can indicate their interest in the DPC Production Pilot Onboarding Application (https://airtable.com/shr3m3BL3IWY5hYnm)  and the DPC team will follow up when we are ready to move forward with your organization(s).

3. Who's included in the DPC Pilot? / Am I eligible to participate?

   1. While the DPC team has already identified some partners for our initial Pilot API Program to test the functionality of the API, we will continue to accept new partners who have submitted Production environment applications (https://airtable.com/shr3m3BL3IWY5hYnm) on a rolling basis throughout 2021. 

   2. The DPC team is still relying heavily on our prospective users' feedback to identify key areas for improvement as we continue to build and improve on the API.

Topic Feedback and Consensuses: 

1. What is a preferred login system or portal you use today to manage your relationship with CMS? 

   1. We heard feedback on the variety of portals used to manage your relationship with CMS (NPPES, PECOS, QPP, CMS Enterprise portal). Each has their own pros and cons, and opinions about which might be an option for identity management in the DPC ecosystem were very mixed. 

2. What do provider organizations want to manage in your relationships with HealthIT vendors and DPC?

   1. It was clear from feedback in the DPC Office Hour participants that provider organizations would prefer that their associated health IT vendors (or their internal IT team, if applicable) manage the vast majority of interactions with the DPC API (credential management, data requests, data management, etc…).