With a more urgent timeline for data sharing across the country, the government is now rethinking what the Nationwide Health Information Network – the NHIN.
The NHIN, a federal interoperability initiative begun in 2004, must now align itself with the newer and more urgent timeline established in the HITECH part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed last February, members of the Health Information Technology Policy Committee said at a meeting of the panel on Jan. 13.
The Health IT Policy Committee adopted the NHIN workgroup's recommendation for a "conceptual" framework for the NIHN and what the NHIN should expect from federal agencies. The members don't know yet how those recommendations will be turned into actions and deadlines.
David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and chairman of the Health IT Policy Committee, said the group would continue to expand its vision for the NHIN at upcoming meetings.
"The NHIN was developed before HITECH," he noted. "Is this sufficient, or should we be thinking more broadly?"
Blumenthal urged the committee to think of ways the government can promote meaningful use as part of the NHIN.
"If there are new investments we have to make, new aspirations we need to communicate, we have no time to lose,” said Blumenthal. Providers who expect to receive bonuses under ARRA must demonstrate meaningful use of healthcare IT by 2011
The NHIN workgroup chairman, David Lansky, said the NHIN should enable the broadest range of providers to exchange information to achieve meaningful use and enable consumers to be able to access their health information. It should also provide access to states and other organizations that support providers.
The goals the committee approved for the future of the NHIN include:
- The federal government should focus on the minimum standards, policies and services needed for foundational exchange components to further meaningful use in the near-term.
- NHIN policies, standards and services should be structured so that intermediaries can provide required services for private and secure routing of health information.
- The federal government should work with stakeholders to improve and leverage directories for the NHIN.
- The federal government should define a core set of policies for the interoperation of trusted directories.
- The NHIN should build upon existing federal standards, policies and practices for authentication and identity proofing.
