Fiscal Year 2010 Budget in Brief
Office of the Secretary
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
(dollars in millions)
| 2008 | 2009 | 2009 | 2010 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Budget Authority | 42 | 2,000 | 44 | 42 | -1 |
PHS Evaluation Funds | 19 | -- | 18 | 19 | +1 |
Total, Program Level | 61 | 2,000** | 61 | 61 | -- |
FTE | 30 | -- | 30 | 65 | +35 |
*American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)
**The Recovery Act appropriation to ONC includes $20 million to be transferred to NIST.
Recovery Act
The Recovery Act makes a down payment on health care reform by accelerating the adoption of health information technology and utilization of electronic health records. Building on this unprecedented investment, the Administration will continue efforts to further the adoption and implementation of health information technology—an essential tool in modernizing the health care system.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology leads, coordinates, and stimulates public and private sector activities that promote the development, adoption, and use of health information technologies to achieve a healthier Nation.
The FY 2010 Budget request for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is $61 million, $0.1 million above FY 2009, excluding Recovery Act funds. The FY 2010 President’s Budget includes resources for ONC to continue its current activities as the Federal health IT leader and coordinator. This role will be vital to achieving the President’s health IT initiative and accelerating the adoption of health IT and utilization of electronic health records. The FY 2010 Budget request, in conjunction with the $2 billion appropriated to ONC under the Recovery Act, will enable HHS to implement the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.
The Recovery Act included both additional resources and a new authorization to guide the Federal government's health IT activities. The Recovery Act provided $2 billion for ONC to implement the HITECH Act, which authorizes the Office of the National Coordinator; two new Federal Advisory Committees to guide standards and policy development processes; new grant and loan programs; and increased privacy and security protections.
In addition to funds requested within ONC, the FY 2010 Budget request for other HHS divisions includes funds to advance the Administration’s health IT agenda. The Budget request includes $45 million in AHRQ to advance the use of health IT to enhance patient safety, and $2 million in ASPE for independent evaluations of electronic health record adoption and economic factors influencing health IT in coordination with ONC. In addition, the Budget request for CMS includes resources to conduct the second year of a demonstration project to encourage small physician practices to adopt electronic health records.
STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION
Presidential Initiative
The President’s health IT initiative aims to accelerate the adoption of health IT and utilization of electronic health records. Computerizing America’s health records in five years, while protecting the privacy and security of personal health information, is expected to improve the quality of health care, prevent unnecessary health care spending, and reduce medical errors.
Standards are a critical element of the foundation of the national health IT agenda and a necessary building block for achieving the President’s health IT goals. ONC’s FY 2010 Budget request includes funds to support the development of health data standards and to ensure they are available for both private sector and Federal use. This funding will support the ongoing standards harmonization process, which is required for IT systems to exchange data across different health care settings. In FY 2010, ONC will continue to support technology certification activities to ensure that the certification criteria for health IT products incorporates the most recent standards. These activities provide a consolidated resource for Federal agencies as they transition to harmonized standards and advance the national health IT agenda.
In FY 2010, ONC will also continue implementing the new processes outlined in the HITECH Act authorization for standards development. These activities include a Health IT Policy Committee and a Health IT Standards Committee. The Health IT Policy Committee will provide policy recommendations related to the implementation of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure. The Health IT Standards Committee will recommend standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for the electronic exchange and use of health information. ONC will also involve stakeholders and fulfill the unprecedented transparency and accountability reporting requirements for recipients of Recovery Act funding.
PRIVACY AND SECURITY
The FY 2010 Budget supports the continued development of appropriate Federal privacy and security protections of electronic health information, and to support State consensus efforts to address patient protections. Ensuring adequate Federal protections and facilitating multi State collaboration is essential to building public confidence and trust in national health information exchange.
In FY 2010, ONC will continue working with partners, such as the HHS Office of Civil Rights, CMS, States, and other stakeholders to protect patients’ health information. ONC will also continue to support the implementation and development of HITECH Act privacy and security regulations and guidance.
DEVELOPING A TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE TO ADVANCE ADOPTION OF HEALTH IT
Performance Highlight
The Federal Health Architecture (FHA) has made software available to the public to enable health information technology systems to communicate with the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). The FHA – an E-Gov initiative led by ONC – has made the free software, called CONNECT, and supporting documentation available at www.connectopensource.org.
The CONNECT software is the outcome of a 2008 decision by more than 20 Federal agencies to begin work on connecting their health IT systems to the NHIN. Rather than individually building the software required to make this possible, the Federal agencies, through the FHA, created CONNECT. This shared software solution can be reused by each agency within its own environment. The Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Indian Health Service, and the National Cancer Institute have tested and demonstrated CONNECT’s ability to share data among each other and with private sector organizations.
Transitioning the medical and health industry to capitalize on the advantages of reliable and secure health information exchange requires multiple changes to our healthcare system. The FY 2010 Budget request includes support for expanding health information exchange network capabilities across additional markets and communities. A network for health information exchanges is a prerequisite to actually exchanging health information electronically. In FY 2010, ONC will continue supporting Recovery Act activities to develop a national health information network.
MEASURING SUCCESS
In FY 2010, ONC will continue to define measures of success and report on these measures as appropriate. ONC will use pre existing performance measures as well as the milestones and objectives of the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan in developing these measures. ONC will update the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan in FY 2009. ONC will also measure its success by funding surveys of the adoption rates of electronic health records among physicians and hospitals.