U.S. Health IT Office Reorganizes And Creates a Chief Privacy Officer

The Office of Chief Privacy Officer is going to be a busy one, perhaps somewhat of a understatement if you will, as there’s a lot of area to cover here and with emerging technologies, such as devices that report data showing up every week. So far, this has not really been addressed and hopefully we will see some interest in this area.

It appears the Chief Privacy Officer is going to be busy not only with federal government entities, but also at state and other levels too. I think this all goes to show what a big job digitizing our records and at the same time ensuring policies and laws are enforced is going to be. It is interesting too when you read the job descriptions and responsibilities here how they all overlap in selected areas. This group is definitely going to be a meeting of the minds on a consistent level I would guess.

I hope these offices are staff with individuals who actually have some “hands on” experience in Health IT to add some real value here as well as it has gone to show that participation with role models is the key, otherwise we get stuck with “Magpie Healthcare” that frustrates all of us. BD

The U.S. federal government office which handles the nationwide transition to electronic medical records reorganized into several groups, including creating a Chief Privacy Officer.

The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's new organizational structure is designed to more effectively meet the mission outlined by the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The changes were published in the Federal Register, effective Dec. 1.

The office is now composed of five smaller offices with direct reporting capability to National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Blumenthal, who reports to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, who reports to President Barack Obama.

The new groups are the Office of Economic Modeling and Analysis; the Office of the Chief Scientist; the Office of the Deputy National Coordinator for Programs & Policy; the Office of the Deputy National Coordinator for Operations, and the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer.

The Office of the Chief Privacy Officer, appointed by the Sebelius, will advise on privacy, security, and data stewardship of health information, coordinating with privacy officers in other federal agencies, state and regional agencies, and foreign countries.

The Office of Chief Scientist also shares information on health IT with international audiences, collaborates with other agencies and departments, and develops education programs.

The Office of the Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy implements and oversees grant programs that advance the nation toward universal meaningful use of health IT, develops and implements standards for national health information exchange, and maintains the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan.

U.S. Health IT Office Reorganizes -- Healthcare IT -- InformationWeek