October 2-6 is National Health IT Week, a nationwide event focused on the value of healthcare IT. Sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and the Institute for eHealth Policy, this partner-driven event emphasizes advancing healthcare transformation, expanding access, increasing economic opportunity, and promoting healthier communities.
Coinciding with National Health IT week, the new, DSFederal-developed version of HealthIT.gov has launched in beta. The new site offers topic-based navigation, a responsive design that adapts to the user’s screen size, a news and updates section, refreshed content, and an upgraded platform that operates on Drupal 8. Because the new site is still in beta, much work remains to be done, but the beta launch is a great first step toward launch of the full site
HealthIT.gov is an effort of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), which leads HHS health IT efforts and is a key proponent of nationwide health information exchange to improve healthcare. ONC is the principal Federal entity charged with coordination of nationwide efforts to implement and use the most advanced health information technology and facilitate the electronic exchange of health information. The position of National Coordinator was created in 2004 through an Executive Order, and was legislatively mandated in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) of 2009.
Because Health IT.gov is designed to serve as an information hub supporting knowledge exchange between patients, healthcare professionals, and policy makers, DSFederal’s main approach to the project underscores the seamless flow of information to and between these groups. The DSFederal team continues to contribute and is responsible for requirements gathering/research and planning, architecture design and Agile development, production and testing, and deployment and ongoing site analysis. Our Drupal developers create custom modules that maximize site usability, improve aesthetic appeal, and minimize content redundancies by streamlining the content upload and administration process. DSFederal is proud of our web development team and our Drupal Center of Excellence, and honored to partner with ONC, supporting its mission of improving healthcare through information technology.