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Steven Posnack

Portrait of Steven Posnack

Steven Posnack serves as the Deputy National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Prior to this role he served as executive director of the Office of Technology. In this role, Mr. Posnack advises the national coordinator, leads the ONC Health IT Certification Program, and directs ONC’s standards and technology investments through the ONC Tech Lab, which organizes its work into four focus areas: pilots, standards coordination, testing and utilities, and innovation. He led the creation of the Interoperability Standards Advisory, the redesign of ONC’s Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL), created the Interoperability Proving Ground, and developed the C-CDA Scorecard.

Prior to serving as the director of the Office of Standards and Technology, Mr. Posnack led ONC’s federal policy division within the Office of Policy and Planning from 2010 to 2014. In this capacity, he led ONC’s regulatory affairs, legislative analysis, and several federal policy development and coordination activities. From 2005 to 2010, he served as a senior policy analyst within ONC’s Office of Policy and Research. In that position, he co-authored the Nationwide Privacy and Security Framework for Electronic Exchange of Individually Identifiable Health Information. He also led a cross-HHS policy team that worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as it developed its regulation for the electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS).

Mr. Posnack earned a Bachelor’s degree in computer science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a Master’s degree in security informatics from Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute, and a Master’s degree in health policy from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He also maintains a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certificate.

Steven Posnack's Latest Blog Posts

A Guide: How to Identify and Address Unsafe Conditions Associated with Health IT

Steven Posnack | December 5, 2013

When front line clinicians confront a clinical mishap or unsafe condition in EHR-enabled healthcare settings (such as a medication error or a missed diagnosis) they may not connect the clinical event with how EHR use could have helped prevent it, how misuse or failure to use EHR functionality as intended contributed to the problem, or how weaknesses in EHR configuration, interfaces, or usability contributed.

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EHR Certification: By the Numbers

Steven Posnack | September 13, 2013

We’ve been getting a number of questions about EHR vendor readiness and the 2014 Edition EHR certification criteria. Given the increased interest, I thought now would be a good time to answer some of those questions by:

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ONC’s Thoughts on Patents, Health IT, and Meaningful Use

Steven Posnack | March 4, 2013

ONC was recently asked whether the regulatory requirements for EHR certification and meaningful use, especially some of the more patient-focused requirements, like the view, download, and transmit to a 3rd party meaningful use objective, could implicate patents.
We want to share with you our thoughts on patents and meaningful use, and identify the proactive steps ONC is taking to understand their implications and share that understanding with the community.

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Announcing the 2014 Meaningful Use Objectives Quick Reference Grids

Steven Posnack | November 6, 2012

Almost 2 years ago, ONC released meaningful use quick reference grids to capture—in one place—how meaningful use Stage 1 objectives and measures correlated with adopted 2011 Edition EHR certification criteria.  We’re pleased to announce the 2014 versions of these grids, which are back by popular demand, and posted on HealthIT.gov (look under the “ONC Resources” heading).

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