Federal Health Architecture (FHA)
Federal Enterprise Architecture: Frequently Asked Questions
Federal Enterprise Architecture: Frequently Asked Questions (PDF) (62KB)
What is the Federal Health Architecture (FHA)?
FHA is an eGov Line of Business established in response to
The President’s Management Agenda calling for increased
efficiency and effectiveness in government operations.
FHA has responsibility for leveraging federal expertise,
supporting federal activities in the development and
adoption of standards, and ensuring that agencies can
seamlessly exchange health data with other agencies, other
governments (state, local and tribal), and with private sector
healthcare organizations. FHA contributes to the President’s
health IT plan through:
- Input: A coordinated federal voice and collaboration on national health IT solutions
- Implementation: Guidance for implementation and adoption of endorsed standards
- Accountability: Ensure accountability for health IT activities in the federal space to advance interoperability
What is FHA's vision?
FHA’s vision is a federal health IT environment that is
interoperable with the private sector and supports the
President’s health IT plan enabling better care, increased
efficiency, and improved population health.
Who participates in the FHA?
FHA is a partnership among federal agencies, the Office of
the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), and the Office
of Management Budget (OMB). The Department of Health
& Human Services as the Managing Partner along with the
Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans
Affairs as Lead Partners provide funding for the program.
Additionally, approximately 20 agencies contribute time and
expertise to participate in specific FHA activities. Agencies
include Department of Homeland Security, Department
of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Commerce,
Department of Energy, Department of Transportation,
Department of State, Social Security Administration,
Department of Labor, Office of Personnel Management,
Department of Justice, National Science Foundation,
Department of Treasury, US Agency for International
Development and Small Business Administration.
What need is FHA addressing?
FHA provides a collaborative forum for federal agencies
involved in health IT activities. FHA helps to gain the federal
perspective in the areas of standards harmonization,
compliance certification, nationwide health information
network architecture, security and privacy, and EHR
adoption � in addition to other federal health IT areas. FHA
provides federal input to the President’s health IT plan,
assists agencies in implementing new opportunities that
have been identified by the American Health Information
Community (“The Community”), and supports OMB to ensure
accountability for health IT investments.
What are FHA's goals?
FHA has set three main goals:
- Input: Federal expertise and experience that supports the President's health IT plan through participation, coordination, and the leveraging of federal systems investments
- Implementation: The President's health IT plan is implemented in the federal agencies, in alignment with the Federal Enterprise Architecture, through adoption of standards, certified applications and the protection of patient privacy
- Accountability: Federal agencies coordinate effective capital planning activities, and invest in and implement interoperable health IT
What has FHA accomplished so far?
FHA is already acting to ensure agencies invest in and adopt
standards-compliant health IT. Accomplishments to date
include:
- The Consolidated Health Informatics (CHI) Initiative, a
component of FHA, put forward and received endorsement
from the Secretary of HHS along with DoD and VA for
over 20 standards for health IT which focused on medical
vocabularies, messaging, EHRs and health care imaging.
- FHA has defined five federal health service domains:
Access to Care, Population Health and Consumer Safety,
Health Care Administration, Health Care Delivery Services,
and Health Care Research and Practitioner Education.
FHA members are developing further common processes
and standards for these domains ensuring agencies
have a uniform and comprehensive approach to health
information exchange.
- FHA’s Food Safety Work Group has defined better business
processes to protect the nation’s food supplies.
- FHA has coordinated federal input into the health
IT standards harmonization and nationwide health
information network (NHIN) processes.
- Coordinated federal input for interoperability specifications
and gap analysis of standards for initial HITSP activities.
What are some of FHA’s major activities?
FHA is actively involved in national health IT initiatives to
ensure that the federal perspective is represented and
coordinated in support of the President’s health IT plan:
- The Community approved a recommendation for the
development of a use case for an EHR to be used in
emergency response situations. FHA was tasked by
The Community to lead this effort with active input from
leading organizations in the private and public sectors.
The use will be developed by October 2006.
- HHS Secretary Leavitt has tasked FHA with assisting
agencies in developing a plan to implement standards
endorsed by the Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) and adopted by the Secretary of HHS. FHA
has provided agencies with a template for completing
the standards implementation plans which will enable
agencies to submit their plans to The Community by
December 31.
- FHA is supporting OMB in surveying federal agencies to
identify the current state of interoperability.
- FHA is coordinating federal input into the health IT standards
harmonization and nationwide health information network
(NHIN) processes. Activities include oversight and coordination
of Interoperability Specifications Inspection Testing and
providing testimony on NHIN functional requirements.
In addition to current tasks and activities, FHA will
continue to identify and implement high-value, highpriority
opportunities to advance federal health IT. FHA’s
activities will align with recommendations identified by The
Community and other federal priorities such as: improving
emergency care for citizens, accelerating federal health
IT standards implementation, improving federal health IT
cost-effectiveness, supporting the NHIN and reducing the
reporting burden for businesses.
How will FHA activities ultimately affect citizens?
The goal for effective federal use of health IT is to improve
healthcare delivery for citizens. Our ability to serve those most
in need during emergencies will be greatly improved if first
responders and healthcare providers have access to EHRs for
displaced citizens. America’s military can also benefit from
access to healthcare information for active service personnel
and veterans. Finally, the burden on businesses by simplifying
complex requirements for health-related communication
with federal agencies can be reduced. Agencies will be
empowered to plan for health IT investments more efficiently,
exchange critical health data and contain federal costs. FHA’s
contributions can help strengthen federal health IT activities in
support of the President’s health IT plan to enable better care,
increase efficiency and improve population health.
How can I contact or find out more about FHA?
Contact the FHA Program Management Office at:
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