Why we need this I don’t know and it’s just one more layer of policy setters from what I can read here. EMR vendors I’m sure shook their heads at this one. I’m not sure the ONC is dealing with a full deck these days due to the complexities they are trying to sort through, not to mention the number of individuals who have left. This is just going to be another place where folks come to meet and chat and create some 
abstracts based on “their” perceptions, about as useful as economists have become today, not very.
This is almost like getting things to a child like hand feeding process as we all roll with technology and the only safety items at hand now are the EMRs that most are not happy with since the payer focus took over clinical values a few years ago. I almost have to laugh here “the safe use of Health IT” as that’s something that is practiced every day in hospitals and in doctors offices as if something is considered as “not safe” occurs, they work and fix it whether it’s humans or machines. Again I think the ONC belongs as it’s own entity at the FDA to where something like this combined with safety of actual devices would be a better fit and they already have that at the FDA. I think these folks at the ONC need a few more trips once in a while out to the “real” world as I know how folks can get distracted and addicted to some processes as such and to me anyway that’s what it looks like here, a think tank without a real purpose, other than being something virtual in essence.
mHealth Why Battle Over Where the Responsibility Lies, Make the ONC A Division of the FDA, Better Collaboration and Software Engineering Exposure Both Ways Around
Granted what has occurred with meaningful use combined with the rapid changes in technologies is not their fault entirely as it’s been a roller coaster but what I question here is “the perceptions” on what’s really a tool and what’s just another study and report shack. Again with the way devices have morphed into creating data for medical records as well as human input, the FDA is much better related environment for collaboration than another think tank. These task forces as mentioned eventually just fizzle themselves out as this is not like OSHA for goodness sakes. Who knows maybe we’ll have standards on how to use keyboards and a mouse next:)
Meanwhile we gets tons of tweets on Twitter “look at our Blue Button Toolkit” and “Vets are using the Blue Button” and seniors on Medicare get completely neglected. Go out in the real world and see how many folks on Medicare know the Blue Button is there and you’ll probably find the same results that I have, like none. Instead of money on a think tank like this it would be much nicer to see the ONC reach out and do something for “the real world” and help seniors with the Blue Button with community programs instead of waiting for already over taxed hospitals and doctors to help patients. Seniors don’t always find the right portals and so forth. I keep the links on my blog as information. I actually did a nice post on the work they did.
CMS/ONC Does Some Nice Work and Updates for the Blue Button Campaign, All That’s Needed Now Is People Helping People…
But again, we come to the same old problem haunting everywhere with people confused with what’s a virtual value and what’s a “real world” value and they seem to get lost in the translation, same stuff we see from the White House and at the VA as well for that matter, very scary indeed. BD
VA Inspector General Takes the “Virtual Low Road” With Report at Phoenix Hospital, Working Some Quantitated Mathematical Justifications But We All Know In the “Real” World People Died…
RTI International has landed a contract with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to develop a roadmap for a national health IT safety center.
RTI is charged with defining the focus, functions, governance and value of a new national health IT safety center. Prior work by government, industry and academia has envisioned the new center as a public-private entity that provides engagement, evidence and education around health IT safety.
"Health IT is creating novel opportunities for patients and providers, while also raising new and important safety concerns," said Doug Johnston, director of health IT policy in RTI's Center for the Advancement of Health Information Technology and the project director, in a news release announcing the contract win. "As a first step, the roadmap will define a path for creating a new center that helps gather information and share learning about the safety and safe use of health IT," he added.
To develop the roadmap, RTI will convene a task force of public-private stakeholders including safety researchers, patient advocates, providers, health IT vendors, medical liability and health insurers, government officials and others. The task force will provide recommendations and help build a shared awareness about safety best practices and risks involved in health IT. RTI will provide ONC with the roadmap for future development of the health IT safety center.
Linda Dimitropoulos"RTI's expertise in patient safety, health IT and safety data analysis positions us to best address how to further health IT safety through creating a roadmap using an open and transparent process, " Linda Dimitropoulos, director of RTI's Center for the Advancement of Health Information Technology, and the associate project director, said in a press statement.
http://www.govhealthit.com/news/onc-awards-health-it-safety-center-contract
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