HHS seeks nominations for two healthcare IT advisory boards
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking nominations for the newly created healthcare IT (HIT) Standards Committee and HIT Policy Committee. The Standards Committee will make recommendations to the National Coordinator for Health IT on standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for the electronic exchange and use of healthcare information for purposes of healthcare IT adoption.
The HIT Standards Committee members are to be appointed by the HHS Secretary with the National Coordinator taking a leading role. Membership of the HIT Standards Committee should at least reflect the following categories of stakeholders and will include other individuals: providers, ancillary healthcare workers, consumers, purchasers, health plans, technology vendors, researchers, relevant federal agencies and individuals with experience with healthcare quality, privacy and security, and on the electronic exchange and use of healthcare information.
In addition, the HIT Policy Committee will make recommendations to the National Coordinator on the implementation of a U.S. healthcare IT infrastructure. The HIT Policy Committee will consist of at least 20 members---three of which will be appointed by the HHS Secretary. Of these three members, one must be a representative of HHS and one must be a public health official.
New section 3008 of the PHSA allows the Secretary to recognize the National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) as either the HIT Policy Committee or the HIT Standards Committee. At this time, HHS said it is evaluating options regarding the NeHC and its role in relation to those committees.
Letters of nomination and resumes should be submitted by March 16 to ensure adequate opportunity for review and consideration of nominees prior to appointment of members. Nominations can be submitted to www.HIT_FACA_nominations@hhs.gov.
The HIT Standards Committee members are to be appointed by the HHS Secretary with the National Coordinator taking a leading role. Membership of the HIT Standards Committee should at least reflect the following categories of stakeholders and will include other individuals: providers, ancillary healthcare workers, consumers, purchasers, health plans, technology vendors, researchers, relevant federal agencies and individuals with experience with healthcare quality, privacy and security, and on the electronic exchange and use of healthcare information.
In addition, the HIT Policy Committee will make recommendations to the National Coordinator on the implementation of a U.S. healthcare IT infrastructure. The HIT Policy Committee will consist of at least 20 members---three of which will be appointed by the HHS Secretary. Of these three members, one must be a representative of HHS and one must be a public health official.
New section 3008 of the PHSA allows the Secretary to recognize the National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) as either the HIT Policy Committee or the HIT Standards Committee. At this time, HHS said it is evaluating options regarding the NeHC and its role in relation to those committees.
Letters of nomination and resumes should be submitted by March 16 to ensure adequate opportunity for review and consideration of nominees prior to appointment of members. Nominations can be submitted to www.HIT_FACA_nominations@hhs.gov.