The Department of Health and Human Services‘ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has released updated transparency requirements that obligate health IT providers to file full disclosures on product costs and limitations.ONC Policy Office Director Elise Sweeney Anthony and Steven Posnack, standards and technology lead, co-wrote in a blog post published Wednesday the regulation applies to all health IT systems certified to the 2014 and 2015 edition of standards, implementation specifications and certification criteria.
Developers should identify costs and technical and contractual restrictions of IT products on both their websites and in marketing materials to comply with the ONC Health IT Certification Program’s new disclosure policies, Anthony and Posnack wrote.
Health IT providers must also submit a transparency attestation on whether they will take voluntary actions to promote transparency and answer all requests to disclose information on their offerings, the blog posts says.
ONC-authorized certification bodies are conducting surveillance on disclosures and non-compliance could lead to corrective action and termination of health IT certifications, Anthony and Posnack said.
Product disclosures are posted on ONC’s Health IT website.
ONC looks to urge professional associations, product researchers and stakeholders to utilize the developers’ product disclosures and transparency attestations.
