ONC plans governance rule to expand nationwide health information network participants

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT plans to establish rules of the road for the nationwide health information network (NHIN Exchange) in order to expand the kinds of organizations that can participate in it.

Participation in the NHIN Exchange is currently limited to federal health agencies and healthcare organizations that contract with them or are federal grantees. As the first step in the rulemaking process, ONC will publish a request for information in August to get public comment on the governance process. It expects to then release a proposed rule in early 2011, and to finalize it next summer, said Mary Jo Deering, senior policy advisor in ONC's Office of Policy and Planning.