ONC proposes more resources for privacy campaign

Due to the growing use of mobile devices to exchange personal health information (PHI), the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the Department of Health and Human Services is calling for more resources to conduct a nationwide PHI privacy campaign. As part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) of 2009, the ONC is mandated to educate the public on personal health information privacy. The agency needs to gather information about different segments of the public to conduct the campaign effectively, officials wrote in a proposal published in the Federal Register.

Interested persons are invited to send comments on the proposal, regarding:

• the necessity and utility of the proposed information collection for the proper performance of the agency’s functions;
• the accuracy of the estimated burden;
• ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
• the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology to minimize the information collection burden.