As many of you know, ONC is emerging as the player agency in things health IT.  ONC (and sometimes you see ONCHIT) stands for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.  ONC is the principal Federal entity charged with coordination of nationwide efforts to implement and use the most advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information.

The HIT Standards Committee met on October 29, 2009 and formed an "Implementation Workgroup" which is charged with bringing forward “real-world” implementation experience to the HIT Standards Committee recommendations.  The Implementation Workgroup will have a special emphasis on strategies to accelerate the adoption of proposed standards, or mitigate barriers, if any.  In addition to public meetings designed to uncover new strategies, the Committee also launched a blog. Industry groups, including the AHA, are encouraging hospital leader's to partic

On April 17, 2009, HHS issued guidance specifying the technologies and methodologies that render protected health information unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals, as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The guidance was developed through a joint effort by OCR, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and CMS.

In late March the Obama administration named David Blementhal, physician and director of the Institute for Health Policy at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners Healthcare System as the national coordinator for health information technology (HIT). This new post was included in the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

In his new role, Blumenthal will be responsible for determing how almost $20 billion in new funding will be disbursed over the next few years.

Late on Wednesday, Feb. 11, the House and Senate reached agreement on final language for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law as soon as it reaches his desk. An unofficial  summary of the conference agreement includes the following health-related provisions --

Both the Senate and House have passed different versions of an economic stimulus bill. In addition to tax cuts and new government spending provisions, both bills include many provisions that affect healthcare providers. A conference committee will meet this week in an attempt to iron out the differences.

According to a fact sheet from the Senate Finance Committee, here are some of the key differences in the two bills, relating to healthcare.

Health Care Compliance Letter

Volume 11-16, August 5, 2008