In response to a request from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the Department of Health and Human Services, the Institute of Medicine (Board on Health Care Services) in collaboration with the National Research Council (Computer Science and Telecommunications Board) undertook a fast-track study to examine the standards activities of Office of the National Coordinator.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology was charged with coordinating the development and implementation of data and technical standards in health IT systems nationally. The scope of its efforts spanned both the adoption of standards and their implementation in deployed health IT systems. It had a number of different processes in place which were intended to operate together to, among other things, advance data and technical standards for the national health IT agenda.

The Institute of Medicine formed the Committee on the Review of the Adoption and Implementation of Health IT Standards to examine the processes of the Office of the National Coordinator, determine how effectively they are working to advance the national Health IT agenda, and make recommendations for improvement as warranted.

The sponsor asked for a report by September 2007, and thus the Committee focused on the narrow task of determining whether the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology was effectively advancing the national Health IT agenda. The Committee was not tasked with developing a new agenda.

Specifically, the Committee determined whether the processes are advancing as rapidly and cohesively as possible and whether they are aligned to move forward in a coordinated fashion on common priorities so as to meet the challenges of the national Health IT agenda.

The Committee met once in person on September 16 - 18, 2007 and produced a letter report for publication in early October 2007.