HIT Washington Editor

The Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology (ONCHIT) has published a plan for making use of the funds provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), detailing both funding sums and timelines for specific objectives. However, one of the key questions for doctors and hospitals, that of the definition of "meaningful user," does not come with a deadline in the document.

The meaningful user question has surfaced frequently over the past few weeks as physicians and hospital administrators attempt to plan their HIT purchases. During a session at this year's edition of the World Health Care Congress in Washington in April, Kelly Cronin, the director of the office for programs and coordination at ONCHIT, said that the definition of meaningful user is not likely to be static, but made no mention of when ONCHIT might provide a definition. According to the ONCHIT document, the definition "will be determined through a process that will include broad stakeholder input and discussion.

Of the $2 billion allocated to ONCHIT's efforts, $300 million will go toward bolstering the operations of regional HIT exchanges, also known as regional health information organizations (RHIOs). The National Institute of Standards and Technology will use another $20 million to help the Department of Health and Human Services craft rules that guide standards for electronic health records (EHRs), with a deadline of Dec. 31 to publish a proposed final standard in the Federal Register.

Roughly $1.6 billion of the total amount is allocated to "unspecified" uses, no doubt some of which will go toward bolstering IT infrastructure in hospitals and doctors' offices. One of the measures ONCHIT is employing to gauge its success is to get one of every four physician offices to have adopted EHRs by February 2010. The document states that 21% of physician practices have EHRs in 2008. For small physician practices, a term that is not defined, the objective is to have 12% working with EHRs, a substantial percentage increase from the current 8%, although the document does not indicate the sheer numbers involved.