A little-known office within the Department of Health and Human Services is getting a shot in the arm as part of a major agency reorganization announced on Thursday.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, better known as ONC, regulates data standards for health care systems, including the electronic health records that underpin patient care and billing. As data’s role in health care grows, that narrow purview has reached across HHS in surprising ways — especially with the explosive growth in health systems and insurers using artificial intelligence.
The agency is responding to those rapid shifts by moving more responsibilities for HHS-level management of data, technology, and AI under the banner of ONC. The reorganization comes at a time when industry — from medical device makers to drug developers to health IT vendors — are itching to influence developing technology regulation, in particular for AI. Federal regulators have been playing a game of catchup as the health care industry races to deploy AI products and angle for access to valuable medical data.
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