Last week, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal published an open letter touting the Nationwide Health Information Network as a model to help health care providers meet the “meaningful use” requirements of the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, Modern Healthcare reports.
Under the stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records will qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 5/17).
Blumenthal wrote that NHIN is “not a network per se, but rather a set of standards, services, and policies that enable the Internet to be used for the secure exchange of health information to improve health and health care.”
NHIN Direct
He also acknowledged that some health care providers “may have simpler needs for information exchange, or perhaps less technically sophisticated capabilities.” He said such health care providers could benefit from NHIN Direct, which still is under development (Blumenthal letter, 5/14).
NHIN Direct is a basic version of NHIN that offers health care providers open-source software to develop a network for the electronic transmission of health information (Modern Healthcare, 5/17).
Blumenthal wrote that NHIN Direct “is meant to enhance, not replace, the capabilities offered by other means of exchange.” He added that the model could “complement existing NHIN exchange capabilities and strengthen our efforts toward comprehensive interoperability across the nation” (Blumenthal letter, 5/14).
In addition, Blumenthal wrote that ONC is “on an aggressive timeline” to develop standards for NHIN Direct so health care providers can use the framework to qualify for incentive payments.
He also called for greater public participation in the NHIN Direct project through blogs and a community wiki, which are available on the project’s website (Modern Healthcare, 5/17).
