Department of Health and Human Services March 10, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the agency) is announcing a public hearing to obtain input on the scope and implementation of potential expanded access programs with direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection in patients with unmet medical need. This public hearing is being held to obtain comments from the public on eligibility criteria that should be used for patient enrollment in expanded access protocols involving DAAs and to elicit suggestions for designs of protocols for treatment investigational new drug applications (INDs) involving DAAs and other expanded access protocols. In addition, the agency would like public input on types of studies that should be conducted to obtain information on patients with unmet medical need including those with the greatest risk of progression of liver disease and/or the lowest predicted virologic response rates.

Under the authority granted to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (the National Coordinator) by section 3001(c)(5) of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) as added by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, this rule proposes the establishment of two certification programs for purposes of testing and certifying health information technology. While two certification programs are described in this proposed rule, we anticipate issuing separate final rules for each of the programs. The first proposal would establish a temporary certification program whereby the National Coordinator would authorize organizations to test and certify Complete EHRs and/or EHR Modules, thereby assuring the availability of Certified EHR Technology prior to the date on which health care providers seeking the incentive payments available under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentives Program may begin demonstrating meaningful use of Certified EHR Technology. The second proposal would establish a permanent certification program to replace the temporary certification program. The permanent certification program would separate the responsibilities for performing testing and certification, introduce accreditation requirements, establish requirements for certification bodies authorized by the National Coordinator related to the surveillance of Certified EHR Technology, and would include the potential for certification bodies authorized by the National Coordinator to certify other types of health information technology besides Complete EHRs and EHR Modules.