For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 27, 2004
Executive Order
Incentives for the Use of Health Information Technology and Establishing the Position of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States of America, and to provide leadership for
the development and nationwide implementation of an interoperable
health information technology infrastructure to improve the quality and
efficiency of health care, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Establishment. (a) The Secretary of Health and Human
Services (Secretary) shall establish within the Office of the Secretary
the position of National Health Information Technology Coordinator.
(b) The National Health Information Technology Coordinator
(National Coordinator), appointed by the Secretary in consultation with
the President or his designee, will report directly to the Secretary.
(c) The Secretary shall provide the National Coordinator with
appropriate staff, administrative support, and other resources to meet
its responsibilities under this order.
(d) The Secretary shall ensure that the National Coordinator
begins operations within 90 days of the date of this order.
Sec. 2. Policy. In fulfilling its responsibilities, the work of
the National Coordinator shall be consistent with a vision of
developing a nationwide interoperable health information technology
infrastructure that:
(a) Ensures that appropriate information to guide medical
decisions is available at the time and place of care;
(b) Improves health care quality, reduces medical errors, and
advances the delivery of appropriate, evidence-based medical care;
(c) Reduces health care costs resulting from inefficiency, medical
errors, inappropriate care, and incomplete information;
(d) Promotes a more effective marketplace, greater competition,
and increased choice through the wider availability of accurate
information on health care costs, quality, and outcomes;
(e) Improves the coordination of care and information among
hospitals, laboratories, physician offices, and other ambulatory care
providers through an effective infrastructure for the secure and
authorized exchange of health care information; and
(f) Ensures that patients' individually identifiable health
information is secure and protected.
Sec. 3. Responsibilities of the National Health Information
Technology Coordinator. (a) The National Coordinator shall, to the
extent permitted by law, develop, maintain, and direct the
implementation of a strategic plan to guide the nationwide
implementation of interoperable health information technology in both
the public and private health care sectors that will reduce medical
errors, improve quality, and produce greater value for health care
expenditures. The National Coordinator shall report to the Secretary
regarding progress on the development and implementation of the
strategic plan within 90 days after the National Coordinator begins
operations and periodically thereafter. The plan shall:
(i) Advance the development, adoption, and implementation of
health
care information technology standards nationally through
collaboration among public and private interests, and consistent
with
current efforts to set health information technology standards for
use by the Federal Government;
(ii) Ensure that key technical, scientific, economic, and other
issues affecting the public and private adoption of health
information technology are addressed;
(iii) Evaluate evidence on the benefits and costs of interoperable
health information technology and assess to whom these benefits and
costs accrue;
(iv) Address privacy and security issues related to interoperable
health information technology and recommend methods to ensure
appropriate authorization, authentication, and encryption of data
for
transmission over the Internet;
(v) Not assume or rely upon additional Federal resources or
spending
to accomplish adoption of interoperable health information
technology; and
(vi) Include measurable outcome goals.
(b) The National Coordinator shall:
(i) Serve as the Secretary's principal advisor on the development,
application, and use of health information technology, and direct
the
Department of Health and Human Service's health information
technology programs;
(ii) Ensure that health information technology policy and programs
of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are
coordinated
with those of relevant executive branch agencies (including Federal
commissions) with a goal of avoiding duplication of efforts and of
helping to ensure that each agency undertakes activities primarily
within the areas of its greatest expertise and technical
capability;
(iii) To the extent permitted by law, coordinate outreach and
consultation by the relevant executive branch agencies (including
Federal commissions) with public and private parties of interest,
including consumers, providers, payers, and administrators; and
(iv) At the request of the Office of Management and Budget,
provide
comments and advice regarding specific Federal health information
technology programs.
Sec. 4. Reports. To facilitate the development of interoperable
health information technologies, the Secretary of Health and Human
Services shall report to the President within 90 days of this order on
options to provide incentives in HHS programs that will promote the
adoption of interoperable health information technology. In addition,
the following reports shall be submitted to the President through the
Secretary:
(a) The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall
report within 90 days of this order on options to provide incentives in
the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program that will promote the
adoption of interoperable health information technology; and
(b) Within 90 days, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the
Secretary of Defense shall jointly report on the approaches the
Departments could take to work more actively with the private sector to
make their health information systems available as an affordable option
for providers in rural and medically underserved communities.
Sec. 5. Administration and Judicial Review. (a) The actions
directed by this order shall be carried out subject to the availability
of appropriations and to the extent permitted by law.
(b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right
or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity
against the United States, its agencies, its entities or
instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any other person.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 27, 2004.
# # #
|