By Mike Berry, ONC
Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT
The Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) plays an important role in ONC activities and objectives. Required by the 21st Century Cures Act, the HITAC has been operational since 2018 and represents a wide range of experts in health IT who inform ONC’s policies and programs.
The HITAC recommends policies, standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria to the national coordinator across four target areas: interoperability, privacy and security, patient access to information, and use of technologies that support public health. The HITAC is also considering the design and use of technologies that advance health equity as a new target area.
The HITAC had a Productive 2022!
In total, the HITAC held 10 full committee meetings including a Health Equity by Design Hearing, launched five subcommittees and held 56 subcommittee meetings, and issued 165 recommendations. This includes recommendations for assessing the specific functions supported by public health data systems that would benefit from further standardization and potential certification, as well as recommendations from the e-Prior Authorization RFI task force. We also said goodbye to seven long-standing members.
Check out this HITAC infographic for more details.
What’s New for the HITAC in 2023
The HITAC will be busy again in 2023! So far, we’ve welcomed eight new members.
- Shila Blend
- Sarah DeSilvey
- Hannah Galvin
- Bryant Thomas Karras
- Anna McCollister
- Deven McGraw
- Kikelomo Adedayo Oshunkentan
- Naresh Sundar Rajan
In addition, Medell Briggs-Malonson was selected to serve as co-chair along with Aaron Miri.
And, we’ve got several HITAC subcommittees teed up for this year:
- The Interoperability Standards Workgroup is charged with evaluating and providing recommendations on the Draft USCDI Version.
- The ONC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) Task Force will convene during the public comment period of the NPRM and will provide subsequent recommendations to the HITAC.
- Later this year, we anticipate engaging a new Task Force to review and provide recommendations related to Pharmacy Interoperability.
We are thankful to have an esteemed group of passionate members who volunteer their time and efforts to help advance the adoption of health IT and the promotion of nationwide, standards-based health information exchange to improve health and healthcare for all.
How Can You Get Involved?
Glad you asked! HITAC meetings are open to the public, and we encourage interested parties to participate during the public comment portion of each meeting. View all committee meetings, learn about current and past Task Forces, and review past recommendations on HealthIT.gov.
This article was originally published on the Health IT Buzz and is syndicated here with permission.