During the shutdown, 11 ONC meetings were cancelled
The 16-day government shutdown that ended Oct. 17 brought the work of the Office of the National Coordinator to a screeching halt, with canceled meetings of high-level federal advisory committees and workgroups. But with the end of the shutdown, all hands are on deck and ready to work, according to ONC officials.
During the shutdown, 11 ONC meetings were canceled, including the monthly meetings of the federal advisory Health IT Policy Committee and Health IT Standards Committee, along with the meetings of nine workgroups. Most of the workgroups have been rescheduled for the remaining days in October.
Paul Tang, MD, vice-chair of the Health IT Policy Committee, said his committee will not be rescheduling its canceled Oct. 2 meeting.
[See also: ONC to take hit in government shutdown.]
"We are juggling our agenda for future meetings to try to accommodate the deliberations that would have occurred in October, but in general we will be shifting our schedule of deliverables out a month," Tang told Government Health IT.
According to the committee's 2013 workplan, the group was scheduled to deliver meaningful use Stage 3 recommendations and begin work on Stage 4 recommendations by the end of this year. However, prior to the shutdown, there was already a debate over whether the group would be able to tackle Stage 3 objectives this year.
John Halamka, vice-chair of the Health IT Standards Committee said the shutdown won't pose any problems to his committee. "Really nothing happened other than the in-person October 16 meeting was cancelled," he said. "We'll likely make up that work via conference calls."
[See also: Shutdown stalls meaningful use work.]
As for the entire Office of the National Coordinator, it diminished from 184 staff members to a skeletal crew of two, according to Peter Ashkenaz, a spokesman for ONC. The two staffers were retained for essential financial and administrative services, Ashkenaz explained. No policymakers reported for duty under the furlough.
As of Oct. 17, "we're back with Jacob Reider and Lisa Lewis acting as national coordinator and principal deputy," Ashkenaz said. "Beyond that, we're continuing to ensure providers are ready for Stage 2 and working on standards."
