New ONC Site Aids Public Comment on Updating Federal HIT Plan

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has launched PlanningRoom, a new Web site to foster public comment as the agency updates the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan.

ONC developed the site with Cornell University. The first topic of discussion on the site, through May 9, is consumer ehealth and how best to empower individuals through health I.T. Patients, consumers, providers, insurers, vendors and all other stakeholders are encouraged to participate.

ONC is seeking comment on 10 areas of consumer engagement: Enabling information access, empowering consumer action, shifting attitudes, identifying useful health information, patient generated health data, supporting shared decision making through HIT, decreasing health disparities through HIT, supporting personalized health care, supporting new health care delivery models, and using health IT to enable research and inform practice.

Icons for each topic explain relevant issues, steps the government can take, privacy and security concerns, and a request for comments. The site is available at http://planningroom.org/.