ONC to outsource HIT program assessment and management

While HHS was releasing its proposed "meaningful use" rules to much fanfare and many people had already checked out for the year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology rather quietly announced its intentions to hire contractors to assess and manage several grant programs and regional health IT extension centers.

In a series of four notices posted Dec. 30 and 31 on the Federal Business Opportunities website, ONC indicates its intention to outsource assessment of progress toward meeting the health IT goals of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including programs for state health information exchange, regional extension centers, "beacon" communities and health IT workforce training. ONC also seeks technical assistance for governance, accountability and business processes for state HIE grantees, as well as customer-relationship management software for the extension centers.

In a separate action, ONC said that potential applicants for $60 million in previously announced Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) grants for "breakthrough" health IT research should fund activities that can be put to practical use in a short period of time.

For more:
- check out this Government Health IT story on the contract opportunities
- read this Government Health IT piece about the breakthrough grants

Related Articles:
Feds move up timetable for extension centers, announce HIT grant programs
ONC reorganizes, announces $235M for EMR 'beacon' communities

Post a comment