Federal Strategic Health IT Plan: 2011-2015

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Posted By: Roberta Mullin September 15, 2011

ONC Announces Federal Health IT Strategic Plan

The ONC, along with its federal partners, announced the released of the current version of the Federal Health IT Startegic Plan as a part of the National Health IT Week. The Plan which was last published in 2008 has been updated after the public comment period that ended in May. The Plan reflects a strategy for coordinating with the public and private sector to realize Congress’ and the Administration’s health information technology (health IT) agenda: improving the quality, efficiency, safety and patient-centeredness of health care. The original Plan was published in 2004 as the “Strategic Framework: The Decade of Health Information Technology: Delivering Consumer-centric and Information-rich Health Care”. In 2008 “The ONC-Coordinated Federal Health IT Strategic Plan: 2008-2012” was written and implemented.

The Plan was updated to take into account policy changes created by the HITECH Act and the Affordable Care Act. The ONC incorporated the recommendations from the HIT Policiy Strategic Plan Workgroup, interviews, and public comments into the new version of the Plan. The Plan is considered a living document and will be continually reviewed for updating.

The Plans five goals are:

  1. Achieve EHR Adoption and Information Exchange through Meaningful Use of Health IT – This goal discusses adoption and meaningful use – the centerpiece of the government’s health IT strategy – over the next five years.
  2. Improve Care, Improve Population Health, and Reduce Health Care Costs through the Use of Health IT – This goal discusses the specific ways health IT is contributing to the goals of the Affordable Care Act.
  3. Inspire Confidence and Trust in Health IT – This goal focuses on government efforts to update its approach to privacy and security issues related to health IT.
  4. Empower Individuals with Health IT to Improve their Health and the Health Care System – This goal discusses how the government is empowering individuals with access to their health information.
  5. Achieve Rapid Learning and Technological Advancement – This goal focuses on ways to enable innovation and appropriate use of health information to improve knowledge about health across populations.

Read the comments from the ONC in the Health IT Buzz.