On Wednesday, members of a Health IT Policy Committee work group on the Nationwide Health Information Network called for the creation of a national electronic directory of health care providers, Government Health IT reports.
Officials said such a directory could help CMS administer the federal economic stimulus package's health IT incentive payments. The agency also could use the directory to communicate with thousands of physicians through the NHIN (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 12/16).
A national provider directory would include each physician's e-mail addresses, fax numbers and telephone numbers, officials said.
The Social Security Administration is developing requirements for establishing its own provider directory, which also would include electronic health record information.
Obstacles
The work group members noted that several challenges might hinder the government's ability to maintain an accurate, complete and up-to-date directory (Lipowicz, Federal Computer Week, 12/16).
For example, officials currently have no uniform standards for integrating directories and networks.
In addition, some health care providers might be reluctant to add and update their directory listings without incentives for doing so (Government Health IT, 12/16).
Officials also said the NHIN will need to establish a system to verify the identities of people using the network. The work group plans to hold a hearing on user authentication on Jan. 7, 2010 (Federal Computer Week, 12/16).