Health IT Legislation and Regulations
Legislation
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) work on health IT is authorized by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.
The HITECH Act established ONC in law and provides the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with the authority to establish programs to improve health care quality, safety, and efficiency through the promotion of health IT, including electronic health records (EHRs) and private and secure electronic health information exchange.
Other legislation related to ONC’s work includes Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) the Affordable Care Act, and the FDA Safety and Innovation Act.
Read more about health IT legislation.
Regulations
ONC authors regulations that set the standards and certification criteria EHRs must meet to assure health care professionals and hospitals that the systems they adopt are capable of performing certain functions.
ONC also provides regulatory resources, including FAQs and links to other health IT regulations that relate to ONC’s work.