ONC Mostashari Chronicles Notable Health IT Developments

Dr. Farzad Mostashari took the reigns of the ONC back in April from being the Deputy ONC for Blumenthal. It has now been two years now since the Proposed Rules were released which included what was to be Stage 1 of the CMS EHR Incentive Program. This past year has been quite a year for CMS and ONC when it comes to the HITECH Act. ONC Mostashari took some time out to chronicle the year.

From Januay’s launch of the Incentive Programs to a CDC survey and analysis of increasing EHR adoption among health care providers, read his post “12 Months of Health Information Technology: A Year of Momentous Progress” in the Health IT Buzz.

In this post he highlights his picks for most notable developments in health information technology in 2011. He includes on this list the launch of the Direct Project and says it “provides a simple, secure, standards-based way for providers and other participants to send encrypted health information directly to trusted recipients over the internet—a kind of “health email.” He also highlights the progress made by the HIT Standards Committee to accelerate Stage 2 standards and certification requirements.  A bright spot in job growth also made his list as he points to the positive impact provider adoption and the increase in EHR vendors has had on the increase in jobs in the health IT workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that within the health industry the greatest growth has been among IT-related health workers.

He ends the detailed monthly recap with saying they have navigated through all of this by focusing on their key principles:

• Open and inclusive decision-making;
• Focusing on the goal, not the technology;
• Building on what works best;
• Fostering innovation using the market;
• Watching out for the least capable participants; and above all,
• Putting patients’ interests in the center of everything we do.