Any meaningful effort for health care reform has to include the participation of the IT community and continued progress toward electronic health records, streamlined claims procedures, and ability to disseminate public health information efficiently. The National eHealth Collaborative aims to partner the public and private technology communities to create a “secure, interoperable, nationwide health information network.”
From their press release:
The National eHealth Collaborative brings together these stakeholders to accelerate development of the health IT systems, infrastructure, standards, protections, participation, and education needed to create a secure, interoperable, nationwide electronic health information network. The Collaborative provides a needed and credible forum for stakeholders to transparently vet and prioritize national advancement efforts and leverages the value, resources and best practices offered by both the public and private sectors. The Collaborative works in close partnership with the Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP), the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), and the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), as well as other health and IT member organizations.
The complete list of their directors is here.
Here is a list of their goals:
- Consistent standards to guide the development, sharing and updating of confidential individualized health information within a secure national network;
- Education, guidance and incentives for widespread adoption of electronic health records by health systems, health professionals and individuals;
- Creation of the secure, interoperable network that enables immediate, consistent, protected access to relevant personal health information at the point of care, anywhere and anytime it is needed;
- Collaboration among a wide variety of institutions and organizations to enable broad, efficient, seamless and confidential exchange of secure, individualized health information—leading to system-wide improvements in health outcomes, access, and quality of care, as well as reduced costs over time; and
- Partnership with members of the Nationwide Health Information Collaborative and others to develop a governance plan for the Nationwide Health Information Network.
While I view this as a positive movement toward health care reform, their board members seem to come from insurance companies and corporate interests, with no representation from the technology sector. Shouldn’t companies that actually create the platforms be a key player in the discussion?