National Healthcare IT Czar Gets Budget Increase

The recently approved 2006 congressional budget package earmarks $61.7 million for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS; Washington, DC). The amount includes $42.8 million in direct funding and $18.9 million for discretionary spending.

In the 2005 budget, Congress initially failed to appropriate any funding to ONCHIT, but did eventually provide about $33 million for the office. That makes this year’s allocation an increase of 87%. The amount falls $13.3 million short of President Bush’s budget request, and represents a compromise between the House’s proposal and the $42 million recommended in the original Senate budget.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS; Chicago) commended the House and Senate conferees on reaching a reasonable compromise. HIMSS noted that the budget includes funds for studying and evaluating various solutions for interoperable health information exchanges that would maintain security and privacy protections for personal health information, as called for in HHS’ strategic healthcare information technology plan. ONCHIT is expected to provide detailed information to Congress within 90 days on how it plans to implement this study.

Although many healthcare information technology advocacy groups were pleased with the increased level of this year’s funding, the amount is generally seen as inadequate for meeting the agency’s own stated goals of achieving “widespread deployment” of electronic health records over the next 10 years.

This past November, ONCHIT awarded four contracts, valued at $18.6 million, to develop prototype national healthcare information networks. Due to funding concerns, the four projects were scaled back from six that were originally planned.

ONCHIT’s Brailer: Finally financed.

David J. Brailer, MD, PhD, ONCHIT’s head, is optimistic about the catalytic role of the agency in advancing the development and implementation of healthcare information technology. In an interview with t he New York Sun earlier this month, he said, “We’re really ready to step up in 2006 with a pretty aggressive agenda. The president loves this topic.” According to Brailer, the administration will announce several “breakthrough” initiatives to increase the visibility and value of healthcare information technology among the American public. This technology includes nationwide computerized personal medication histories, secure doctor-patient electronic messaging, and increased biosurveillance to monitor disease outbreaks and provide earlier detection and better treatment following pandemics or bioterrorism attacks.

ONCHIT was established by executive order in April 2004. The following month, Brailer was named to head the office. In spite of having to manage budget shortfalls while navigating an often-unwieldy bureaucracy, Brailer is widely regarded as a strong advocate for healthcare IT implementation.

© 2006 Canon Communications LLC

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