WASHINGTON – It has been almost two years since Congress passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) – an unprecedented piece of legislation lawmakers hoped would catapult the advance of healthcare IT.
During that time, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has been putting the law and staff to work on accomplishing just that.
Recently David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology had a rare opportunity to pause from his labors and tout ONC's accomplishments so far.
"The HITECH Act represents an historic and unparalleled investment in HIT," he told the House Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation on Sept. 30.
With the passage of HITECH, ONC has established two new influential federal advisory committees, the HIT Policy Committee and HIT Standards Committee and it has completed three rulemakings necessary to establish meaningful use Stage 1 for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs, Blumenthal said.
In addition, the HIT Policy Committee has formed an interdisciplinary “Privacy and Security Tiger Team” of experts who are busy compiling recommendations, he added.
ONC has also strengthened coordination throughout the executive branch on HIT and has invested nearly all of the $2 billion authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through a number of new programs.
These include: the State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program; the Beacon Community Program: the Health IT Workforce Program; the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) Program; and the Health Information Technology Extension Program.
Additionally, ONC has consulted with the Office of Civil Rights as it developed the proposed modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Enforcement Rules, Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal told the House committee that he feels the work done so far would have a lasting impact. Yet he isn't about to rest on his laurels.
"As we take stock of our successes and complete the challenges in front of us, we recognize that much work still remains in order to reach our goals for the future,” he said.
