ONC turns its attention to health reform IT

Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator, asked his advisors to turn to one of the most vexing problems on the health reform horizon: streamlining federal and state systems for enrolling people applying for health insurance benefits under the law.

Dr Blumenthal asked members of the Standards Committee to start to develop standards for exchanging eligibility and enrollment data electronically between what is now a hodgepodge of federal and state health and social health programs and services organizations. In doing so, he acknowledged both a major new direction - and workload - for ONC.