ONC Blog Launches Oct 28 2009

Judy Sparrow, who serves as the liaison between the HIT Policy and Standards Committees and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, posted the first note on the ONC blog on October  28, 2009, “Welcome to the new Federal Advisory Committee Blog! Since many of you may be unfamiliar with Federal Advisory Committees (FACAs) and their role at ONC, I wanted to give you some background and a preview of what you can look forward to on this blog.” ‘FACAs’ get their name from the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which lays out the guidelines for such committees.  FACAs are advisory and intended to provide external guidance to the government.  Typically members of the group are not federal employees. They are also very open committees – meetings are held in public, information on the meetings is posted in the Federal Register, and all FACA records are readily available. At the very root of the FACA mandate is transparency and collaboration.”

Sparrow explains the roles of the Policy and Standards Committees, and then writes “In the spirit of transparency and collaboration, this blog will help ONC’s FACAs open a broader dialogue with you. In the months to come, we will use this blog to let you know about key FACA activities.  Since the FACAs do not meet frequently, there will be periods when the blog is not active.  I hope you not only find the information that will be posted to this blog interesting and insightful, but, above all, that you heed our call to join this important conversation.”

For the ONC blog go to  http://healthit.hhs.gov/blog/faca

Welcome Judy Sparrow and the ONC to the world of blogs! Thank you.