Input sought on national health info network

Department of Health and Human Services officials offered for public comment alternative “rules of the road” to govern a coming national health information network.

A finalized set of rules will be offered in a future rulemaking process. The network, authorized as part of the electronic health record incentive program included in the 2009 stimulus law, will govern the exchange of any type of health information by providers, patients and researchers. The various ways to create, amend or drop the rules of the coming network were laid out in the request for information. “From a healthcare provider's perspective, we anticipate that the governance mechanism could provide assurances to all electronic exchange parties that a specified set of requirements have been met,” according to HHS' request for public comment. “In turn, we believe these assurances could help spur greater trust and confidence in electronic exchange among providers and ease concerns associated with sharing patient information.” The national network will be overseen by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.