Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)

Developing A Prototype For A Nationwide Health Information Network Architecture

On June 6, 2005, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a request for proposals (RFPs) to develop, create prototypes for, and evaluate a nationwide health information network (NHIN) architecture for widespread health information exchange that can be used to test specialized network functions, security protections and monitoring, and demonstrate feasibility of scalable models.

The solicitation will award up to six contracts for the development of designs and architectures that specify the construction, models of operation, enhancement and maintenance, and live demonstrations of the Internet-based NHIN prototype. The contractors must demonstrate interoperable health information exchange in real-world health care environments maximizing the use of existing infrastructure.