HITPC: Restructure of work groups beginning in May

The Health IT Policy Committee’s work groups are going through an evolution, according to National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, during the committee’s April 8 meeting.

DeSalvo presented a proposed restructuring of HITPC work groups designed to support the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC's) priorities, which include evolving from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act structure, developing a federal health IT strategic plan; developing a national consensus agenda, Meaningful Use, advancing health IT tools in support of the triple aim and health information exchange, use and infrastructure, she said.

"It's really important that we enhance not just the form but the communication of all these work groups so we're reducing redundancy and the potential for reactive work," she said. "We want to be as strategic and forward thinking as possible."

To support these priorities, DeSalvo announced the following restructure of workgroups:

• Health IT strategic planning
• Advanced health models and Meaningful Use
• Health IT implementation, usability and safety
• Interoperability and health information exchange

Privacy and security and consumer engagement cut across all of these topics, she noted.

DeSalvo said she hopes to spread the talent and skills of ONC staff and volunteers across work groups rather than cluster expertise into one work group. “Whether in technological areas or broader areas like HIE it seems to be valuable to spread the talent and skills and expertise across the work groups and not cluster all the HIE and interoperability folks in one work group. The challenge is moving ourselves from being somewhat siloed into a much more matrixed organization and have chance to learn and grow from all the talent.”

As ONC has to adjust to smaller budgets and an “internal pivot, it seems like a good time to make some form and function adjustments,” said DeSalvo. “We need to be very thoughtful about what we should focus on.” Congress also expects ONC to update the federal health IT strategic plan.

“Without the nervous system of our healthcare infrastructure continuing to be more vital and robust and sustainable, we won’t be able to fulfill the promise of the triple aim,” DeSalvo said. Progress made leads to new opportunities and new challenges. For example, she said rapid adoption pushes issues around usability and new opportunities to capture data and put them to work for payment delivery.

ONC will take a more policy and coordinator function going forward, she said, which is “part of the original expectation of the agency.”

The transition to the new work groups will begin in May and continue through the summer. "We're counting on you giving us feedback and guidance," DeSalvo said. "We don’t want to stop any good work happening but rather ramp up new strategic work. Everybody is still welcome. We cannot do this work alone and we so appreciate all the thoughtfulness."