The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives recently sent a letter urging federal officials to slow down the process of setting governance rules for the Nationwide Health Information Network, Becker's Hospital Review reports (Roney, Becker's Hospital Review, 7/11).
Background
NwHIN is a national health IT infrastructure that aims to help health care providers exchange data.
In May, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT issued a request for information on the creation of an NwHIN governance structure. According to an ONC presentation, the NwHIN governance mechanism will include rules on technical, business practice, privacy and security requirements to establish a common trust framework for the exchange (iHealthBeat, 7/11).
Comments on Governance
In its letter, CHIME said that the process for establishing NwHIN governance is "being unduly rushed." It added that ONC should spend more time identifying best practices among existing health information exchanges before issuing guidance on NwHIN governance (Becker's Hospital Review, 7/11).
According to CHIME, the proposed rules on NwHIN governance could jeopardize the performance and financial stability of health data exchanges because "the need to comply with these rules could end up being 'the straw' that breaks the [health information exchange] 'camel's back.'"
CHIME called for ONC to organize a stakeholders' meeting and consult with its Health IT Policy and Standards committees about issues related to NwHIN governance (Conn, Modern Modern Healthcare, 7/13).