From the ONC Desk
Below find the latest policy and event announcements on America’s transition to electronic health records from the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
Latest Blog Posts
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Positioning ONC for Continued Success
Today, we announced two exciting changes within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology – the creation of an Office of the Chief Medical Officer and an Office of Consumer eHealth.The primary function of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer will be to infuse a clinical perspective across ONC on all activities which have clinical implications. Activities located in this office will include safety, usability, clinical decision support, meaningful use policy development, and quality including metrics and measurement development. The Chief Medical Officer will report directly to me, and will play a key role in helping ONC satisfy its mission of improving health and health care through health IT.
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Health Information Exchange Turns a Corner
As reflected in the guidance released last month by the State Health Information Exchange Program (HIE), this year we expect health information exchange to take off. The stage is set. Adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by ambulatory providers doubled between 2008 and 2011. Substantial progress was made on interoperability through Stage 1 Meaningful Use requirements.
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Public Input Shaped the Guiding Principles for Stage 2 Meaningful Use NPRM
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released two notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRMs) related to Stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs that detail proposed Meaningful Use requirements for providers and the Standards & Certification Criteria (S&CC) that delineate proposed requirements for certified EHR products. The vast majority of the proposed criteria derive from the two federal advisory committees that have been lauded
as a model for public, open, and transparent policy making processes.
