[Med-privacy] HHS posts health IT contract plans

[Peter Marshall]

http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35820-1.html

HHS posts health IT contract plans
05/16/05
By Mary Mosquera,
GCN Staff

The Health and Human Services Department has released three
presolicitation notices for the development of a nationwide health
information network architecture and a process for interoperability of
electronic health records.

The department also will seek an assessment of state privacy and 
security
policies that impede exchange of health information among states and
organizations.

HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONCHIT), led by
David Brailer, plans to develop prototypes and operational models for a
Nationwide Health Information Network Architecture that will enable 
health
information to be shared electronically. The health IT czars office
anticipates awarding up to six contracts for one year with one one-year
option. HHS anticipates awarding the contract in fiscal 2006.

ONCHIT requires development of an electronic health record compliance
certification and inspection process, which will include the
infrastructure components through which electronic health records
interoperate. That contract, to be awarded by Sept. 30, will have a
duration of three years with one one-year option.

In another notice, Brailers office seeks a process to harmonize 
standards
to support widespread interoperability among health care software
applications, particularly electronic health record systems. HHS will
award a contract for three years with one one-year option by Sept. 30.

Some states have more stringent privacy and security requirements for
health information than what is required under the federal Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. ONCHIT and the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality will seek an assessment of state laws 
and
organizational business policies for privacy and security practices that
pose challenges to automated health information exchange and determine 
how
to coordinate them. HHS expects to award up to 40 contracts for one year
with the potential for one one-year option by Sept. 30.


my note:
(the AHRQ pre-solicitation actually says, "The Department of Health and
Human Services (DHHS), Office of the National Coordinator for Health
Information Technology (ONCHIT), and the Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality (AHRQ), have a requirement to assess state laws and
organization-level business policies for privacy and security practices
which pose challenges to automated health information exchange, and
develop plans to address these challenges. ...  )

i.e., privacy is a "challenge" to be overcome...  sigh