• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

CMS to conduct national assessment of existing health IT infrastructures

HIM Connection, September 1, 2009

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIM Connection!

On August 20, CMS published a published a request for information (RFI) regarding the National Gap Analysis and Readiness Assessment for the Health Information Technology Infrastructure. This request comes in the wake of ARRA, and the HHS wish to conduct a national scan of the electronic infrastructure involved in reporting quality measures and other information that will support meaningful EHR use. Entities to be included in the scan are CMS, Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, State Medicaid agencies, other State agencies (e.g., public health departments), Health Information Exchanges/Health Information Networks, and healthcare providers. 

According to the synopsis on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) Web site, "This work is foundational for health reform and may help to guide the design and implementation of grant programs under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), as well as the requirements for the public and private infrastructure that may be needed for the Medicare and Medicaid incentives program for meaningful use of EHRs." 

According to the RFI, vendors are invited to submit ideas by October 1 on how to conduct the national scan of existing health information technology infrastructures and how to "generate an initial national strategic framework for a national health information infrastructure," according to the FBO. There is no guarantee of a procurement, the notice states.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIM Connection!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive