News Feature | October 2, 2015

ONC Finalizes HIT Strategic Plan While CHIME Calls For MU3 Delay

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

CHIME Calls For MU3 Delay

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has continued to spell out its strategic vision for HIT in the U.S. according to a letter available on HIT.gov. The letter begins, “Over the past five years, our nation's health information technology (health IT) landscape has experienced a remarkable transformation. Developing the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020 (Plan) has given us a chance to reflect on our collective health IT journey. When we released the prior Plan in 2011, non-federal adoption of health IT was in its nascent stages, Affordable Care Act implementation was commencing, and the use of mobile health applications, especially by consumers, was far from ubiquitous.”

The Plan

The plan is composed of four overarching goals. Those are

  • to advance person-centered and self-managed health
  • to transform healthcare delivery and community health
  • to foster research, scientific knowledge, and innovation
  • to enhance the nation’s health IT infrastructure

According to the letter, government action will vary depending on the goal, with it broadly serving as the main driver for certain strategies and as a supplement to existing stakeholder work or encouragement of additional activities with others. It however, will not be the only actor, and the agency acknowledges that collaboration and commitment outside of the federal government will be required if the goals are to be met. The Plan makes the effort to highlight issues where state, territorial, regional, private, and individual actions will be more effective.

Other plan values and emphasis include:

  • a flexible and dynamic approach to execution
  • the singular focus of “improving the health and well-being of this nation through a resilient health IT infrastructure”
  • the importance of broad cultural changes
  • focusing on a “holistic and long-range view” of HIT

Additional mission, vision, and principles, as well as detailed objectives for each goal can be read here.

CHIME And MU3

At the same time, the College of Healthcare Information Management (CHIME) and a bipartisan group of congressional leaders have expressed their desire to delay the final rulemaking for Meaningful Use Stage 3. As CHIME stated on their site, “We commend Reps. Renee Elmers (R-NC), Tom Price (R-GA) and David Scott (D-GA) for their leadership on this effort and the 100-plus lawmakers who signed on in support.”

The college staff held a briefing with administration officials on Sept. 25 to detail the ways a delay would provide stakeholders with time to address challenges around the MU program. They also state that they will continue to work with congressional leaders to ensure responsible progress of the MU program. The full letter can be viewed here.