Federal Health IT Office Moves Forward With National Network

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONCHIT) is planning its first trials of the Nationwide Health Information Network, which will connect state and regional health groups using electronic health records. ONCHIT will award up to 10 one-year contracts to create the larger network that will allow physicians nationwide to exchange and view EHRs on every patient. Up to one-third of the contracts will be awarded to small businesses. The national coordinator's office in November 2005 awarded contracts to Accenture, Computer Science Corporation, IBM and Northrop Grumman to develop the regional prototypes through partnerships with regional health care organizations (RHIOs). The upcoming trial is the next stage of testing how the system will operate on a larger scale, (as reported in Tech Insider/Government Executive).