ONC Announces Launch of "Direct Project" Pilots

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• published: 15 Feb 2011
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View the press conference announcing the launch of Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) "Direct Project" with comments from Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer, White House; Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; and other key contributors. The White House and ONC announced that providers and public health agencies in Minnesota and Rhode Island began exchanging health information using specifications developed by the Direct Project, an 'open government' initiative that calls on cooperative efforts by organizations in the health care and information technology sectors. (February 2, 2011) The press conference was moderated by Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy, ONC, and includes remarks from Dr. David Blumenthal and Aneesh Chopra. Designed as part of President Obama's 'open government' initiative to drive rapid innovation, the Direct Project last year brought together some 200 participants from more than 60 companies and other organizations. "This is a new approach to public sector leadership, and it works," said Chopra. "Instead of depending on a traditional top-down approach, stakeholders worked together to develop an open, standardized platform that dramatically lowers costs and barriers to secure health information exchange. The Direct Project is a great example of how government can work as a convener to catalyze new ideas and business models through collaboration." The two pilot programs that have already begun using Direct Project-based information exchange are in Minnesota and Rhode Island: Minnesota: Hennepin County Medical Center, Minnesota's premier Level 1 Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center, has been successfully sending immunization records to the Minnesota Department of Health. "This demonstrates the success that is possible through public-private collaborations," said James Golden, PhD, Minnesota's state health information technology coordinator. Rhode Island: The Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI) has delivered a pilot project with two primary goals: (1) RIQI is improving patient care when patients are referred to specialists by demonstrating simple, direct provider-to-provider data; and (2) RIQI is leveraging Direct Project messaging as a means to securely feed clinical information, with patient consent from practice-based electronic health records to the state-wide health information exchange, current care, to improve quality by detecting gaps in care and making sure the full record is available to all care providers. Other speakers included industry and government professionals who helped make the Direct Project launch a success: Mark Briggs, MSc, Chief Executive Officer, VisionShare; Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer, Allscripts; Sean Nolan, Chief Architect, Microsoft Health Solutions; and, Albert Puerini, Jr, MD, President and CEO, Polaris Medical Management, President and CEO, Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians; and, Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To learn more about the Direct Project, visit: http://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/direct-project Visit the homepage of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology: http://www.HealthIT.gov