The Pew Charitable Trust is urging Congress to reject Office of the National Coordinator for Health (ONC) budget cuts, according to an article on the Healthcare IT News website.
PEW says the ONC needs more than the $38 million allocated to advance interoperability, EHR usability and patient safety.
The White House budget proposal would slash nearly 37 percent, or $22 million, from ONC’s annual operating budget.
AHIMA, AMIA and HIMSS all called on members of Congress to ensure ONC has enough funding to succeed. The coalition Health IT Now, however, took the opposite stance and pushed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to curb ONC’s burdensome regulatory authority and accusing the office of mission creep.