A February 13 article in Bloomberg BNA's Health IT Law & Industry Report and other publications, "Trump Budget Takes an Ax to Health-Care IT Agency," discussed proposed funding cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), including the elimination of a program which provides education and training on the use of electronic health records (EHRs). Day Pitney's Eric Fader was quoted in the article.
According to the federal government's fiscal year 2019 budget request, the ONC's Health IT Adoption program is no longer necessary since most doctors and hospitals are already using EHRs. Eric told Bloomberg BNA that cutting ONC funding because most doctors and hospitals are using EHRs may be missing the point. One of the ONC's stated goals is to be a resource to support the use of health IT and promote health-care data exchange, Eric pointed out, but data exchange is difficult when different EHR systems are still unable to communicate with one another. Eric wondered whether the ONC's drastically reduced budget and new approach will allow it to be effective in promoting uniform standards for the interoperability of EHRs.
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