A Physician CIO’s Viewpoint: What Was Shared When Information Couldn’t Be?
HealthsystemCIO.com November 6, 2017
Since the HITECH Act was signed into law on February 17, 2009, what was encouragement to adopt electronic health records has become a mandate. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), initially a position created by Executive Order in 2004, was written into legislation within the HITECH Act and was inexorably harnessed to the timelines and regulatory requirements of the legislation.
I realize this is a retrospective commentary and likely deserves the respect due to hindsight and Monday morning quarterbacks, but I think it is important in the present milieu of healthcare to recognize missteps and not repeat them. As George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Over a...