Came across an announcement today that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has awarded Bearing Point, a contract to – get this, define healthcare information technology (HIT) terms. Bearing Point will take its cut and is subcontracting the majority of the work to the apparent non-profit (boy, this industry is full of them), National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT).

NAHIT has established a separate site to accept input from the industry on the definitions they are now trying to tackle. And what are they you ask?

Drum roll…

They seek input on defining the following terms:

• EHR – electronic health records
• EMR – electronic medical records
• PHR – personal health records
• RHIO – regional health information organization
• HIE – health information exchange

Now, I have only been following this industry for a relatively short period of time, but even I know what these terms mean. Really, is there that much confusion out there in this industry on what appear to be some of the most basic HIT terms used today?

No, I think not.

Thus won’t you join me in nominating this contract a Golden Fleece Award. It really does seem quite deserving of such an honor.

And if you feel like being a good citizen and contributing, the deadline for getting your definitions in is Nov. 2, 2007.