New This Week on HealthIT.gov

New This Week on HealthIT.gov 

In This Issue

• Google+ Hangout
• New FACA pages
• Beacons drive data improvement
• Health IT Fellows
• Join Us: Sept 16 - Consumer Summit

Happy Friday! Another Friday, another week of lots of good work here at ONC.

Google+ Hangout

Looking ahead to next week, the Standards & Interoperability Framework will be Topic A for our chief scientist, Doug Fridsma, MD, who will be hosting a Google + hangout on Monday. Dr. Fridsma (@Fridsma) is set to discuss our work toward getting doctors, hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, testing facilities and everybody else in the healthcare system to transmit and use health data in a safe and secure way. It’s also a chance to hear from stakeholders about ways to get there! To follow along, join our Google + page: HHS Office of the National Coordinator. The hangout starts at 1:30 p.m. EST.

New FACA pages

We have redesigned HealthIT.gov to help you better follow all the exciting work undertaken by our Federal Advisory Committees. Color coded and more user friendly, the new calendar page will, hopefully, make tracking the FACA work easier. And, heads up, the Accountable Care Clinical Quality Measures subgroup meets Monday.

Beacons drive data improvement

On Monday we published a blog post about a new Academy Health brief, “Building a Foundation of Electronic Data to Measure and Drive Improvement.” highlighting how the Beacon Communities demonstrate the value of health IT for quality improvement initiatives. The novel approaches the Beacons developed to validate data and use it to improve the health of patients is something other organizations who are seeking to use health IT to achieve their own quality objectives may learn from (just sayin).

To view other Beacon Community resources, please visit the Beacon Community Program section on healthIT.gov.

Health IT Fellows

Learn about the latest Fellows who are championing Health IT all over the country. The Health IT Fellows class hopes to learn from those in the field and share best practices with peers facing similar challenges to leverage Health IT for better health, better healthcare and as a tool to control costs. You can learn more about the inaugural class on HealthIT.gov. Our 28 champions from 18 states are looking forward to helping you, help your patients through coordinated care facilitated by HIT!

For information on how to become involved in the Health IT Vanguard program as a Health IT Fellow, please contact us at HealthITVanguard@hhs.gov.

Reminder: Join Us on Sept 16 for the Consumer Summit

We are kicking off HIT Week (#NHITweek) with a Consumer Summit. Join us to learn about and be part of public and private sector led advancements to equip and empower patients with access to their data and tools to better manage their health. Registration is full, but sign up to be on the waiting list, or follow the event live on hhs.gov/live.