The ADA is advocating for more consideration of dental industry needs in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Federal Health IT Strategic Plan.
While the agency has outlined primary goals such as promoting health and wellness, enhancing the delivery and experience of care, accelerating research and innovation, and connecting the health system with health data, the ADA said that certain criteria must be supported in order for the dental industry to meet and participate in the goals.
Specifically, the ADA called on ONC to respond to the need for consideration of gaps in existing policies and resources for dentistry, additional study of dental health information technology issues, targeted opportunities for inclusion and the promotion and representation of the dental industry in policy and decision-making.
“The dental industry has been largely unable to share in the successes of health information technology adoption and innovation in promoting health and wellness. Exclusions and exemptions allowed for the dental software industry have created a technology environment where dental administrative and clinical data is kept in proprietary silos and have created an economy where technology is expensive, complicated and isolated from the rest of health care,” the ADA said in a letter addressed to Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Source: ADA advocates for dentists in Federal Health IT Strategic Plan / ADA News