[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 96 (Friday, May 17, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29134-29135]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-11740]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


HIT Standards Committee; Schedule for the Assessment of HIT 
Policy Committee Recommendations

AGENCY: Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information 
Technology, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Section 3003(b)(3) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment 
Act of 2009 mandates that the HIT Standards Committee develop a 
schedule for the assessment of policy recommendations developed by the 
HIT Policy Committee and publish it in the Federal Register. This 
notice fulfills the requirements of Section 3003(b)(3) and updates the 
schedule posted in the Federal Register on April 11, 2012. In 
anticipation of receiving recommendations originally developed by the 
HIT Policy Committee, the HIT Standards Committee has created six (6) 
workgroups to analyze the areas of clinical quality, clinical 
operations, implementation, consumer technology, nationwide health 
information networks and privacy and security. Other groups will be 
convened to address specific issues as needed.
    HIT Standards Committee's Schedule for the Assessment of HIT Policy 
Committee Recommendations is as follows:
    The National Coordinator will establish priority areas based in 
part on recommendations received from the HIT Policy Committee 
regarding health information technology standards, implementation 
specifications, and/or certification criteria. Once the HIT Standards 
Committee is informed of those priority areas, it will:
    (A) Direct the appropriate workgroup or other special group to 
develop a report for the HIT Standards Committee, to the extent 
possible, within 90 days, which will include, among other items, the 
following:
    (1) An assessment of what standards, implementation specifications, 
and

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certification criteria are currently available to meet the priority 
area;
    (2) an assessment of where gaps exist (i.e., no standard is 
available or harmonization is required because more than one standard 
exists) and identify potential organizations that have the capability 
to address those gaps; and
    (3) a timeline, which may also account for NIST testing, where 
appropriate, and include dates when the HIT Standards Committee is 
expected to issue recommendation(s) to the National Coordinator.
    (B) Upon receipt of a report from a workgroup or other special 
group, the HIT Standards Committee will:
    (1) accept the timeline provided by the subcommittee, and, if 
necessary, revise it; and
    (2) assign subcommittee(s) to conduct research and solicit 
testimony, where appropriate, and issue recommendations to the full 
committee in a timely manner.
    (C) Advise the National Coordinator, consistent with the accepted 
timeline in (B)(1) and after NIST testing, where appropriate, on 
standards, implementation specifications, and/or certification 
criteria, for the National Coordinator's review and determination 
whether or not to endorse the recommendations, and possible adoption of 
the proposed recommendations by the Secretary of the Department of 
Health and Human Services.
    The standards and related topics which the HIT Standards Committee 
is expected to address over the coming year include, but may not be 
limited to standards to support: Transport of data to and from 
patients, image exchange, current content gaps, securing data at rest, 
digital signature, longitudinal record sharing, advanced care 
preferences, application programming interfaces, measuring and 
reporting quality, clinical decision support, defect reporting and 
registry support.
    For a listing of upcoming HIT Standards Committee meetings, please 
visit the ONC Web site at http://healthit.gov.
    Notice of this schedule is given under the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111-5), section 3003.

    Dated: May 8, 2013.
MacKenzie Robertson,
FACA Program Director, Office of Policy and Planning, Office of the 
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
[FR Doc. 2013-11740 Filed 5-16-13; 8:45 am]
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