ONC releases five-year strategic health IT plan
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During the public comment period, the ONC received 240 responses, Jodi G. Daniel, JD, MPH, director of the office of policy and planning at ONC, said in a HealthITBuzz blog post from Sept. 12.
“This by no means marks the end of our strategic planning. The plan is meant to be a living document that will be updated based on experience with Stage 1 of the meaningful use EHR incentive programs and the results of our evaluation program,” wrote Daniel. “We will continue to track national progress toward achieving the goals laid out in this plan, particularly the high-priority goal for providers to adopt and become meaningful users of certified EHR technology.”
The goals include:
- Achieve adoption and information exchange through meaningful use of health IT: Meaningful use is aimed at widespread adoption and information exchange in its first two stages, and will then build to improved health outcomes in the third stage.
- Improve care, population health and reduce healthcare costs through the use of health IT: According to the ONC, adoption of EHRs, information exchange, quality improvement initiatives and healthcare reform pilots are required to implement the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act.
- Inspire confidence and trust in health IT: This goal focuses on government efforts to update its approach to privacy and security issues related to health IT, and to build greater confidence and trust in EHRs and health information exchange among providers and the public.
- Empower individuals with health IT to improve their health and the healthcare system: According to the ONC, the government is designing health IT policies and programs to meet individual needs and expectations, and better integrating individuals and clinicians’ communications through health IT.
- Achieve rapid learning and technological advancement: In the long run, the government is pursuing a vision of a “learning health system,” in which a vast array of healthcare data can be appropriately aggregated, analyzed and leveraged using real-time algorithms and functions.
The agency stated that it benefited from the comments and were afforded insight and guidance from federal advisory committees as well as public comment.
“We will continue to engage our public and private sector collaborators to keep the plan up to date and relevant as it will serve as an important tool in guiding federal efforts and investments in health IT over the next five years,” the agency stated on its website.
The plan is available here.