Federal health IT moves forward with creation of management office

The federal effort to better manage health information technology took a step forward with the creation of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. FCW.com reports that the new office was officially created by a posting Friday in the Federal Register, although it has been operating as a support service for about a year.

The national coordinator’s office will have offices for health IT adoption, interoperability and standards, programs and coordination, and policy and research. The office will coordinate and develop strategy; it won't be actually building or administering technology. "We’re a point of convergence and a point of management," Dr. David Brailer, the coordinator, said.

He said he expects the sub-office directors to be subject matter experts, team leaders and educators and communicators.