WASHINGTON – When it comes to healthcare IT advancement, there is a lot riding on committees.

David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for health information technology, announced May 8 the members of two new advisory committees, one for policy and another for standards, both established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Blumenthal will chair the policy committee. Co-chairing the standards committee is the chair of the Health Information Technology Standards Panel, John Halamka, MD, who will join other key stakeholders and leaders who have been laboring in this work for some time.

Prior to the election, there was concern among those in the industry about the work already begun in 2005 by the federal advisory panel, the American Health Information Community. Would AHIC’s work be recycled, redone, acknowledged, built upon, or thrown out by a new administration?

Blumenthal answered that question in a recent press conference. Of AHIC and its successor, he said, “there was a complicated and evolving committee structure in the past.”

Congress’ decision to create two new committees is “a wise one and well constituted, “ Blumenthal said. He said he looked forward to “a transparent process that gives us the chance to bring in the kind of expertise we need to be legitimate with the industry and consumers.”

“The two new committees don’t overlap,” Blumenthal said. “There are other committees out there whose roles need to be reviewed and refined.”

HITSP, the standards panel directed by AHIC, is one of those existing committees “out there” that Blumenthal is referring to. HITSP has delivered more than two dozen use case standards, with half of them approved so far by HHS. HITSP is “very broadly represented,” Blumenthal said.

“HITSP members are reviewing their work in light of the HITECH Act and have made some changes in their work consistent with requirements of the law. The Standards Committee will be providing direction in the future,” he said.

Blumenthal said he is in discussion with the National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC), the AHIC successor. He said he isn’t ready to talk yet about what role NeHC will play going forward.

With 75 percent of the market for electronic health record products already certified under the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, based on HITSP standards and millions of dollars invested by the industry, many are hoping that the new committees will only serve to move things forward, not erase what has already been accomplished.