National eHealth Collaborative (formerly AHIC Successor, Inc.) is a public-private partnership driving the grassroots development of a secure, interoperable, nationwide health information system. National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) was established through a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to build on the accomplishments of the American Health Information Community (AHIC), a federal advisory committee to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) until 2008, and is led by some of the nation’s most respected thought leaders in healthcare and health IT.
Feedback from stakeholders across the health community is clear: the public and the private sector need to move forward together to identify and address nationwide interoperability priorities and barriers to universal health IT adoption. This need argues strongly for a public-private entity to provide a credible forum for transparently and collaboratively vetting priorities and initiatives and to accelerate momentum with actions that leverage the value of both sectors. National eHealth Collaborative is that entity.
National eHealth Collaborative’s stakeholders are representative of virtually all groups whose participation is needed to drive the rapid development and adoption of an interoperable electronic health information system, including government agencies, health systems, health professionals, academic medicine, patient advocates, major employers, non-profits, technology providers and others. In this way, NeHC offers a uniquely balanced perspective and distinct capacity to effect the changes needed to enable the secure and reliable exchange of electronic health information nationwide.
Americans agree that the broad adoption and effective use of interoperable electronic health records (EHRs) and other health IT tools is an essential foundation for significant health system reform and improved health quality, safety and accessibility. NeHC’s mission is to help enable and accelerate the progress offered by the significant investment in health IT included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 by assessing and addressing barriers that could thwart the nation's interoperability progress and by connecting and educating the health community stakeholders that will be critical to the success of a fully functional national health information network.
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The National eHealth Collaborative operates in partnership with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enable nationwide health information technology priorities and initiatives.