The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT plans to collect information about health IT trends to help HHS agencies stay up to date on potential breakthroughs in health care delivery, according to a recent announcement on the Federal Business Opportunities website, Government Health IT reports.
ONC plans to partner with health IT experts, innovators and developers to identify emerging trends in health care technology.
The office will update CMS and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality about the most promising health IT developments that could support broader health IT adoption and the achievement of meaningful use.
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records will qualify for incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid.
According to the announcement, the trend-scanning initiative could help policymakers identify innovative technological advances that could shape the future of policy decisions on health IT (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 1/5).