The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced the appointment of members to two new federal advisory committees: the Health Information Technology Policy Committee and the Health Information Technology Standards Committee.
The committees, created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will help establish a nationwide, interoperable health information technology infrastructure.
On May 8, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius officially appointed to the committees Dr. David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health information technology, Dr. Michael Klag, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and Deven McGraw, director of the Health Privacy Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, DC.
The Health IT Policy Committee will make recommendations to the national coordinator for HIT on a policy framework for developing and adopting a nationwide interoperable health information infrastructure, including standards for the secure and private exchange of patient medical information.
The committee also includes 13 members named in early April by Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, representing consumer groups, healthcare providers, payors, research, and quality measurement and security constituencies. Four additional members are congressional appointees.
Twenty-three individuals representing healthcare providers, payors, and HIT vendors were appointed to the Health IT Standards Committee. This committee will make recommendations to the national coordinator on standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for the electronic exchange and use of health information. Dr. Jonathan Perlin of the Hospital Corporation of America in Nashville, TN, will serve as chairman.
Related Reading
New military electronic records to be model for U.S., April 10, 2009
Blumenthal tapped for health IT czar post, March 20, 2009
Obama stimulus package allocates $20 billion to healthcare IT, February 19, 2009
U.S. health information technology falls short - report, January 12, 2009
HIMSS sends IT wish list to Obama administration, December 18, 2008
Copyright © 2009 AuntMinnie.com
