House Proposes Major Budget Reduction for ONC

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, was budgeted at $61,257,000 in 2011, and the President’s 2012 Budget Request in February 2011 included $78,413,000 for the ONC.

 The Senate Budget Committee has recommended only $61,257,000 for the ONC.  This included funds from other sources, including funds under the HITECH Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to support initiatives as part of the meaningful use program and reimbursements from the Public Health Service Act. 

In 2010 alone, funding under the HITECH Act provided the ONC with $56.7 million. That amount was to increase to $498.6 million in 2011 and to $874.2 million in 2012 under the President’s February Budget Request.  

However, the  House Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations Subcommittee has proposed only $28,051,000, including grants, contracts and cooperative agreements for the development and advancement of interoperable health information technology. 

Unless this discrepancy can be resolved in favor of the Senate proposal, this could present a major setback to ONC’s ability to lead the health IT transformation in America and achieve the return on investment from the nationwide adoption of electronic health records and health information exchange capabilities forecast by so many.