Authors

Jodi G. Daniel

Portrait of Jodi G. Daniel

Jodi Daniel has served as Director in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), since October 2005. In her current role as Director of the Office of Policy and Planning, she is responsible for considering and addressing the policy implications of key health information technology (HIT) activities. This includes establishing new policies and working with other Federal agencies and organizations and State governments to coordinate efforts and assure that existing and developing policies are consistent (HIT) and health information exchange activities and nationwide goals. She leads ONC’s regulatory and legislative activities and manages ONC’s federal advisory committees, which provide advice on all HIT policy and standards related matters. She is also responsible for the development of ONC’s HIT strategic plan to shape the direction of Federal HIT activities.

Ms. Daniel developed expertise in legal issues and HHS’s strategies regarding HIT as the first Senior Counsel for Health Information Technology in the Office of the General Counsel of HHS. In this role, she was responsible for coordinating all legal advice regarding health information technology for HHS, and was the lead attorney for ONC. Ms. Daniel founded and chaired the health information technology practice group within OGC and worked closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the development of the e-prescribing standards regulations and the proposed Stark and anti-kickback rules regarding e-prescribing and electronic health records.

Ms. Daniel also brings with her a strong background in health information privacy. As an Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Office of General Counsel, she was a senior member of the core team responsible for developing policies and drafting the final HIPAA Privacy Rule, the Privacy Rule modifications, and the HIPAA Enforcement Rule.

Before joining HHS, Ms. Daniel was a health care associate at Ropes & Gray, where she advised health care providers and payers on transactional, regulatory, and legislative issues. She also worked at MetLife as an internal management consultant and a health benefits consultant.

Ms. Daniel earned a law degree from Georgetown University and a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.

Jodi G. Daniel's Latest Blog Posts

Continuing ONC’s non-regulatory approach to governance of the nationwide health information network

Jodi G. Daniel | December 19, 2013

Last year, in a blog post by former National Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, we announced a number of activities to promote a series of activities as part of a non-regulatory approach to governance of the nationwide health information network.   The activities were based on feedback and input we received from a wide range of stakeholders through a request for information on governance.  The public comments urged ONC not to issue regulations but to listen, learn,

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Using Health IT to Integrate Behavioral Health and Primary Care Information

Jodi G. Daniel | September 16, 2013

This is one in a series of blog posts to coincide with National Health IT Week. To follow the conversation on Twitter, look for the #NHITweek hashtag.
Health IT can support better clinical decisions and coordinated care for patients.   As a key factor in health and health outcomes, it is critical to support health IT adoption and use by behavioral health providers and to use health IT to support integration of behavioral health and primary care information.

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The path toward a risk-based regulatory framework for health IT

Jodi G. Daniel | September 5, 2013

Yesterday, the Health IT Policy Committee (HITPC) accepted and approved recommendations from the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) working group for a risk-based regulatory framework for health information technology. The working group’s recommendations suggest a scope for an IT framework, risk and innovation criteria, and approaches for avoiding regulatory duplication.

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ONC’s Thoughts on Patents, Health IT, and Meaningful Use

Jodi G. Daniel | March 4, 2013

ONC was recently asked whether the regulatory requirements for EHR certification and meaningful use, especially some of the more patient-focused requirements, like the view, download, and transmit to a 3rd party meaningful use objective, could implicate patents.
We want to share with you our thoughts on patents and meaningful use, and identify the proactive steps ONC is taking to understand their implications and share that understanding with the community.

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National Health Information Exchange Governance Forum Announced

Jodi G. Daniel | March 1, 2013

Last year, ONC issued a Request for Information looking for comments about a potential governance mechanism for the nationwide health information network.  Based on comments we received, along with feedback from multiple stakeholders, we decided not to continue with a formal rulemaking process, but instead pursue a non-regulatory approach to health information exchange (HIE) governance.  We committed to launching a range of activities to support and learn from existing governance initiatives and advance our HIE goals:

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