ONC Requests Comments on Metadata Standards

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology released the following notice:

On August 5, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), which solicits public comments on the metadata standards recommended to it by the HIT Standards Committee.

The metadata standards under consideration relate to:

• Patient Identity Metadata – These metadata relate to patient identity and include: a patient’s name; date of birth; address; zip code; and relevant patient identifier(s).

• Provenance Metadata – These metadata would be used to provide information on the “who, what, where, and when.” Provenance metadata would include: a tagged data element (TDE) identifier; a time stamp; the actor; and the actor’s affiliation.

• Privacy Metadata – Privacy metadata would include a policy pointer and content elements descriptions such as data type (e.g., consultation note) and sensitivity.

ONC will accept public comments on the ANPRM for 45 days following its publication in theFederal Register. The public comment period will close on September 23, 2011.

For more information, please visit ONC's website at http://healthit.hhs.gov.