HHS Awards Contracts to Develop Nationwide Health Information Network

Major Step Toward Secure and Portable Health Information for American Consumers

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced today the award of contracts totaling $18.6 million to four groups of health care and health information technology organizations to develop prototypes for a Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) architecture. The contracts awarded to these four consortia will move the nation toward the President’s goal of personal electronic health records by creating a uniform architecture for health care information that can follow consumers throughout their lives.

“The Nationwide Health Information Network contracts will bring together technology developers with doctors and hospitals to create innovative state-of-the-art ideas for how health information can be securely shared,” Secretary Leavitt said. “This effort will help design an information network that will transform our health care system resulting in higher quality, lower costs, less hassle and better care for American consumers.”

These contracts complete the foundation for an interoperable, standards-based network for the secure exchange of health care information. HHS previously has awarded contracts to create processes to harmonize health information standards, develop criteria to certify and evaluate health IT products, and develop solutions to address variations in business policies and state laws that affect privacy and security practices that may pose challenges to the secure communication of health information. ...

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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

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