HHS, ONC push full steam ahead

The federal government has been working at what seems to be a breakneck speed this week to forge through barriers in the healthcare arena. This week, the Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have much to feel pleased about as they coast into a long, holiday weekend.

Earlier this week, less than two months following the announcement of the final Stage 1 meaningful use rules, ONC announced the Certification Commission for Health IT and the Drummond Group to become the first two organizations adorned with an ONC authorized testing and certification body (ONC-ATCB) status. With this announcement, the road to meaningful use becomes more of a reality than an abstract goal.

As vendors begin to apply for the certification for their products, eligible hospitals and professionals will be further pressed to evaluate their current operational systems to decide if they want to apply for the financial incentives to offset the investment costs of an EHR system through the HITECH Act.

Later in the week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a combined $30 million dollars to Detroit and Cincinnati, the final pilot communities under the Beacon Community Program, to tackle health IT projects in the respective communities.

The program seems appropriately named as the Beacon Community Program hopes to generate tens of thousands of job with more than 1,100 generated up-front in each community. This job creation could serve as a beacon of light to those individuals affected by the economic recession with the promise of new employment opportunities.

Additionally, HHS issued three sets of grants and cooperative agreements this week, totaling nearly $17 million for patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), which will affect PCOR initaitives in five states ranging coast to coast from New York to California.

With one set granting $9.97 million to five cooperative agreement awards in four states to create an infrastructure of academic institutions for PCOR support, the network will assist to represent patient populations that might not always be adequately represented in similiar PCOR studies.

With the Beacon communities decided, ONC-ATCBs ready to certify EHR systems and academic institutions ready to communicate for robust PCOR patient population involvement, this week in healthcare poises the industry to reach "the next level."

Jeff Byers, Staff Writer
jbyers@trimedmedia.com