USCDI v3 compliance is mandatory by 2026 – here’s how to get ready

The addition of USCDI v3 and v4 to IMO Health’s proprietary lexicon ensures health systems comply with rapidly evolving regulations, avoiding costly penalties.
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Content Marketing Manager
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Product Marketing Manager

IMO Health’s clinical terminology now supports United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) v3 and v4, ensuring the compliance of electronic health records (EHRs), point of care organizations, and health IT vendors with expanding regulations in 2026 and beyond.  

USCDI v3 added one data class, which all EHRs and health IT systems must comply with by January 2026. However, IMO Health expanded the scope of its coverage and provided all 20 data elements added to V4, enabling customers to get ahead of interoperability requirements beyond what is required next year.  

In the last few years, USCDI standard has rapidly evolved

  • v1 (2022) was simple and required 
  • v2 was voluntary — many vendors assumed this trend would continue in future versions 
  • v3 (2026), however, is mandatory under the HTI-1 Final Rule and more than doubles the content of v1, adding new domains like social determinants of health (SDOH) and insurance details 

Yet many organizations still treat v3 as optional, putting them at risk of audit failure, delays in reimbursement, and regulatory action. The bottom line: v3 is not optional — and compliance expectations have doubled. Individuals or entities found guilty of information blocking may be subject to a $1 million penalty per violation, according to HHS-OIG. However, maintaining clinical data to meet regulatory and reimbursement requirements can significantly strain resources and stall innovation. 

The graph above shows the number of data elements added in each version of the USCDI requirements, from v1 through v4. Compared to the last mandatory version, USCDI v1, the number of required elements nearly doubles for v3 which requires compliance by January 1st 2026. 

“IMO Health is uniquely positioned to help support this ecosystem,” Andrei Naeymi-Rad, VP of Corporate Strategy, said at a recent talk. “We have always understood not only how to document appropriately for clinicians, but also how to maintain that data over time so that they can adhere to ever-evolving regulatory changes during meaningful use operations.”

To safeguard against penalties and ensure correct and complete data mapping, IMO Health added thousands of new concepts, codes, and metadata to its proprietary clinical terminology in July of 2025. It also built a new application programming interface (API) to facilitate content standardization within USCDI. These additions support patient safety and protect businesses against financial penalties, optimizing revenue. 

[IMO Health has] always understood not only how to document appropriately for clinicians, but also how to maintain that data over time so that they can adhere to ever-evolving regulatory changes during meaningful use operations.

“The effort we have put into solving this challenge is massive. It’s an incredible amount of effort,” Kari Karsten, Product Manager, said. “But ultimately, that puts our customers in a position to focus on what’s most important to them.”  

Learn more about USCDI and how compliance maximizes your budget and patient safety.  

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