Health Information Technology

Health information technology (HIT) is information technology applied to health care. It provides the umbrella framework to describe the comprehensive management of health information across computerized systems and its secure exchange between consumers, providers, government and quality entities, and insurers. Based on an often-cited 2008 report on a small series of studies conducted at four sites that provide ambulatory care–three U.S. medical centers and one in the Netherlands– the use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) was viewed as the most promising tool for improving the overall quality, safety and efficiency of the health delivery system. A 2006 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality broad and consistent utilization of HIT will,

• Improve health care quality or effectiveness;

• Increase health care productivity or efficiency;

• Prevent medical errors and increase health care accuracy and procedural correctness;

• Reduce health care costs;

• Increase administrative efficiencies and healthcare work processes;

• Decrease paperwork and unproductive or idle work time;

• Extend real-time communications of health informatics among health care professionals; and

• Expand access to affordable care.

Risk-based regulatory framework for health IT September 4, 2013 the Health IT Policy Committee (HITPC) accepted and approved recommendations from the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) working group for a risk-based regulatory framework for health information technology  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) kicked off the FDASIA workgroup of the HITPC to provide stakeholder input into a report on a risk-based regulatory framework that promotes safety and innovation and reduces regulatory duplication, consistent with section 618 of FDASIA. This provision permitted the Secretary of Health and Human...