Telehealth Monitor

A federal standards committee working with the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has established workgroups that will deliver reports in 90 days on three areas of standards for health IT: clinical quality, clinical operations and privacy/security, according to an announcement in the Federal Register.

Under the economic stimulus law, the Health and Human Services Department’s National Coordinator for Health IT will oversee $17 billion in incentive payments to physicians and hospitals that adopt certified health IT systems. The coordinator also will establish a process to certify electronic health record solutions produced by vendors and will set details on implementation.

Congress created the Health IT Standards Committee and the Health IT Policy Committee to make recommendations to the national coordinator.

via Health IT standards panel creates workgroups — Federal Computer Week.

A high-level committee set up to advise the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology pledged Friday to concentrate on forming health IT standards that support the practical daily work of physicians and hospitals.

Members of the Health IT Standards Committee, in its first meeting since being created by the economic stimulus law, said it would create three work groups to pursue that agenda in the areas of clinical operations, clinical quality, and privacy and security.

“Our hope for this committee is to emulate the great [hockey player] Wayne Gretsky and skate to where the puck will be,” said Dr. Jonathan Perlin, the committee chairman and chief medical officer of the Healthcare Corp. of America. Perlin is also a former undersecretary for health for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

via Health IT standards panel unveils practical agenda — Government Health IT.