The ONC ARRA Implementation Plan

Yesterday, ONC released its implementation and operating plan in fulfillment of the 90-day deadline established by Div. A, Title XIII of ARRA.

The plan is posted to the HHS Recovery Website.

Here are a few highlights:

$24 million is budgeted for enhanced privacy and security including $9.5 million for the Office of Civil Rights and CMS for auditing and for complaint resolution.

$20 million is budgeted for NIST to test technical standards and establish a conformance testing infrastructure.

$300 million is allocated for Regional Healthcare Information Exchange, but no details are provided about timelines for distribution.

The plan for Standards is consistent with the charter of the HIT Standards Committee - HHS shall adopt and publish an initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria by December 31, 2009. Today in the Federal Register, you'll find a Notice of the HIT Standards Committee Schedule for the Assessment of HIT Policy Committee Recommendations.

To refine the Federal HIT Strategic Plan, ONC will develop a draft update, receive input from stakeholders, review the impact on other projects, adjust the operating plan as needed, and publish the updated plan on the HHS website by December 31, 2009.

Additionally, a notification for funding availability for the regional extension center grants will be published by the end of FY 2009. Awards are anticipated to be made in early FY 2010.

And of course, meaningful use will be defined soon. HHS is developing milestones for major phases of the program�s activities with planned delivery dates.

With each passing day, more and more details of the new plan are published at a remarkable pace. The magnitude of the work ahead for ONC is summarized nicely by the document

"With the arrival of the new National Coordinator, decisions about how to best address standards development and harmonization, the certification and testing processes, privacy and security policy development, issues around governance, workforce training, and education for health care providers and consumers will be made. "

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