In June of 2008, ONC published the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan — a roadmap for the implementation of nationwide health IT. We need to update the plan to take into account progress made toward the HITECH vision and new opportunities and challenges that may have arisen. The experiences of providers and health IT professionals working “on the ground” play an enormous role in crafting these adjustments to the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan and setting the course of our future efforts.

Today, ONC posted a draft of the HIT Policy Committee Strategic Plan Workgroup’s Health IT Strategic Framework, a foundation for updates to the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan. The draft Framework focuses on the goal, guiding principles, objectives, and strategies of four key areas:

• Meaningful use of health IT
• Policy and technical infrastructure
• Privacy and security
• Learning health system

The long and short of it is that ONC needs you — your experiences and insights can tell us much about what is working well in the implementation of the HITECH Act and where we have opportunities for improvement.

I hope that you will take an opportunity to review the draft Health IT Strategic Framework and share your thoughts on the FACA blog or via the public listening session, scheduled for April 6, 2010. Registration is required for the listening session, and complete details are available at http://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/federal-advisory-committees-facas/strategic-plan. The HIT Policy Committee will consider public input before making formal recommendations to ONC.

Together we can ensure that the HITECH Act’s goals, objectives, and strategies are on-target and leading us in the right direction — toward the meaningful use of EHRs and improved health and care for Americans health care.

–David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P. – National Coordinator for Health Information Technology