ONC Seeks Comments on Regional Extension Centers
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) in Health and Human Services announced draft plans for a program to establish “regional centers to assist providers seeking to adopt and become meaningful users of health information technology” in the Federal Register this week.
In the HITECH Act of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress and the president directed the secretary of Health and Human Services, via the ONC, to establish a nationwide program to assist healthcare providers in adopting, implementing, and effectively utilizing HIT to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and accessibility of healthcare for their patients.
This week’s announcement describes the goals, objectives ,and expectations for Health IT Regional Extension Centers, which will be funded (primarily) by the federal government and run by nonprofit organizations under the direction of a National Health IT Research Center. Staff at these centers will leverage best practices and other “lessons learned” in providing “direct, individualized, and (as needed) on-site assistance to individual providers.” As mandated by the stimulus legislation, priority services will be directed toward public, not-for-profit or critical-access hospitals; federally qualified health centers; providers in areas that serve uninsured, underinsured and medically underserved individuals; and individual or small group primary care practices.
This notice is strictly a call for comments on the draft plan; it is not a solicitation of proposals, which will be announced following the consideration of these comments. The National eHealth Collaborative strongly encourages all health community stakeholders to review the draft Health IT Extension Program plan and provide their feedback to the ONC as soon as possible.
To comment, send an e-mail to HealthIT-comments@hhs.gov. Electronic responses are preferred.
Comments may also be mailed to:
Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT
200 Independence Avenue SW, Suite 729D
Washington, DC 20201
Attention: Health IT Extension Program Comments
Comments are due no later than 5 pm on Thursday, June 11.
Source: National eHealth Collaborative |
