Comment Period for NHIN Governance Proposals Extended

In response to requests from the public for additional time, the Office of the National Coordinator has extended until Friday, June 29, the comment period for the Nationwide Health Information Network: Conditions for Trusted Exchange Request for Information. Comments will be accepted through regulations.gov.

The goal is to establish a governance mechanism for the emerging Nationwide Health Information Network. Common governance rules will address technical, privacy and security issues, and establish business practice requirements needed to build trust among stakeholders, according to ONC.

For your consideration: Which Way for Data Exchanges? ONC Plans to Make Exchange a Not-for-Profit

“In the absence of national guidance, states and other private sector stakeholders/consortiums are beginning to develop state/consortium-unique and potentially conflicting governance approaches to electronic health information exchange.”

The RFI seeks stakeholder comment in five categories:

* Establishment of a set of conditions for trusted exchange (CTE), or “rules of the road;”

* A validation process for entities to demonstrate conformance to the CTEs and subsequently become an NVE, or Networked Virtual Environment;

* Processes to update or retire CTEs;

* A process to classify readiness of technical standards and implementation specifications to support interoperability related CTEs; and

* Approaches for monitoring and transparent oversight.