Seeking to ensure that the nation's burgeoning health IT infrastructure lives up to expectations, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has released the first phase of "a new health IT test method and related software." Three additional installments are to follow.
The suite of software tools is being developed in collaboration with private vendors and oversight organizations.
"The health IT testing infrastructure does not create any new standards, only the tools necessary to test for compliance with existing standards that HHS announced late last year," said a statement released by NIST.
A new Web site provides more information on the testing program.
The announcement by NIST came on the heels of a Federal Communications Commission report that looked at "how broadband infrastructure expansion can improve the quality of health information technology," reports InformationWeek.
John Pulley
John Pulley has written the Health IT Update blog since May 2011. Prior to becoming a regular contributor to Nextgov, he covered technology for Federal Computer Week and Government Health IT magazines. He has written about government for Federal Times and Air Force Times, as well. Pulley has worked in journalism for more than 20 years. He began his career covering local government for regional newspapers. In addition, he served as a writer and senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education for seven years. In 2006, he founded The Pulley Group, an editorial services agency.
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