The Obama administration has proposed a $78 million budget for the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in fiscal 2014, up 27.9% from this year's budget.
The ONC's fiscal 2013 budget is $61 million, the same as it was in 2012. The budgetary increase is intended to help compensate for the end of the funding in 2013 by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), according to the administration. The additional funding aims to enable ONC to leverage its critical investments designed to accelerate the national implementation of electronic health records in the U.S., the administration said.
It's also intended to strengthen ONC's "expertise on activities related to ONC's core mission." These activities include administration of the meaningful use financial incentive program, policy development, standards development, healthcare IT software and equipment certification, and information exchange and interoperability.
A 131-page summary of the proposed fiscal 2014 budget for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services may be accessed here.
