ANSI Asks Health IT Experts to Help with Standards Harmonization
ANSI's Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel is seeking the help of qualified experts to support the development of a shared, nationwide health information network. ANSI posted the plea on its Web site June 12.
Operating under contract to HHS, the panel "works to identify the standards necessary to enable the secure exchange of patient data across the NHIN," ANSI said, noting that it delivered its first 30 formal recommendations to HHS last year in the areas of electronic health records, biosurveillance, and consumer empowerment. HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt announced his acceptance of the recommended standards in January 2007.
The HITSP is engaged in standards harmonization to address the latest set of "use cases" identified by the American Health Information Community; they include quality, medication management, consumer access to clinical information, emergency responder electronic health records, and security and privacy capabilities -- with recommendations developed through four technical committees: Care Delivery Technical Committee, Consumer Empowerment Technical Committee, Population Health Technical Committee, and Security and Privacy Technical Committee. Qualified industry experts are invited to volunteer to participate in the panel and one or more of its technical committees. Requirements include experience relating to health care IT systems, standards development and implementation, vendors/suppliers, health care providers/clinicians/informaticists, and/or subject matter expertise in any of the use case domains. Additional information on the HITSP is available at www.ansi.org/hitsp.