Health IT Now Rebrands, Emphasizes Updated Priorities

Health IT Now, a coalition of various stakeholders supporting improved health IT, has announced plans to relaunch at HIMSS19 under the name Health Innovation Alliance.

The organization recently convened a Congressional briefing entitled "Health IT 101," where it outlined plans of the relaunch, with an expanded membership list, new logo, and an updated set of priorities.

Throughout 2018, at the top of Health IT Now’s priority list has been pushing federal health officials to release the proposed information blocking rule, as required under the 21st Century Cures law. The proposed rule was sent by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on September 17, 2018, setting off a 90-day timeline for the agency to complete its review; a period which was now expired without publication of a proposed rule.

“Now, more than two years after 21st Century Cures was enacted, patients and providers are still without an information blocking rule—undermining the intent of the law,” Health IT Now officials recently stated.

Moving forward, the new Health Innovation Alliance says it will be defined by a commitment to:

• Connectivity in health information—including a continuation of Health IT Now's fight to stomp out harmful information blocking practices and a new focus on HIPAA modernization
• Patient-centric, technology-enabled care—rather than today's status quo of healthcare that is designed around the care setting, and
• An agile regulatory framework that keeps pace with innovation by focusing on best manufacturing practices, usability, and measures effectiveness with real-world evidence.

In part of a statement announcing the change, HITN Executive Director Joel White, noted, “We have attained 'health IT now,' what we still lack is meaningful innovation in how federal programs harness that technology to lower costs and improve health outcomes.”