Health IT Group Urges Relaxed Regulations for Data Exchange

With the technology for health information exchanges still developing, it’s too early to impose more regulations, the health IT advocacy group eHealth Initiative says in a letter to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

“ONC’s proposed regulations could potentially hamper, not enhance, the growth and development of the health information exchange sector,” says Jennifer Covich Bordenick, eHealth Initiative’s chief executive, in a news release issued last week. “Therefore, we strongly recommend that ONC take a step back, seek more input from additional stakeholders, and develop a revised approach that better supports the acceleration of trusted data exchange.”

As proposed, the regulations “could unintentionally stifle innovation and hinder the growth of data exchange,” the group says. Instead, ONC should “create a more flexible framework to support the use of today’s laws, regulations and consensus-based standards and still allow for innovation needed for the future.”

Among the suggestions made by the eHealth Initiative to ONC, which are available as a PDF through a link in the news release:

·      Reconsider the regulatory timetable.

·      Better articulate the problem to be solved rather than “presume(ing) a level of maturity of health information exchange that is not yet widespread.”

·      Emphasize better coordination among ONC, states and HIE stakeholders.

·      Utilize “public/private partnerships rather than a process entirely within federal regulatory processes.”

·      Clarify who is governed by the regulations.

·      Specifically and separately address HIE safeguards, interoperability and business practices within the regulations.

·      Use existing laws and regulations where possible.

·      Provide nonregulatory incentives to encourage interoperability.

·      Build on the work of consensus-based industry organizations.

·      Support concurrent initiatives to redesign health care.

According to its website, the eHealth Initiative “is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit affiliated organization [whose] mission is to drive improvement in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology.”