New Goals In National HIT Roadmap

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has outlined its Federal Health IT Strategic Plan, 2015-2020, updating the goals of an initiative most recently released in 2011.  As it maps out ways to better gather, share and put to use interoperable health data, the plan will serve as a broad federal strategy, say ONC officials, helping set the context for the Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, which is scheduled to be released January 2015.  That roadmap will help to define the implementation of how the federal government can work with the private sector to spur more widespread sharing of health data to improve individual healthcare, drive better community and public health and advance research.

In the meantime, this new strategic plan, developed in collaboration with some 35 different federal entities, lays out five concrete goals related to how data is collected, shared and used.  "Over the past five years, our nation has experienced a remarkable transformation in the collection, sharing and use of electronic health information. Updating the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020 has given us a chance to reflect on our health IT journey," writes National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo, MD, in the new plan's introduction.

When the first version of the strategic plan was released in 2011, she adds, IT adoption among providers was in its nascent stages, the Affordable Care Act was just getting off the ground and the use of mobile health technology was not as widespread as it is today.
  With more than 400,000 eligible hospitals and professionals having managed to digitize their patient records thanks in part to the the EHR Incentive Programs, there's now a strong demand for seamless information sharing across systems and platforms, irrespective of location or provider...