Knowledge Center

On behalf of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), I would like to take this opportunity to extend our congratulations on your election victory and introduce you to our organization. As you begin to develop the new Administration’s health care priorities, we offer our expertise on a wide variety of health information technology (IT) issues.

WEDI was established in 1991 by then Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Dr. Louis Sullivan in an effort to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of health data exchange. The organization was later named in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) legislation as an advisor to the Secretary. Since that time, WEDI has closely interacted with every subsequent U.S. Administration. As a multi-stakeholder consensus-building organization comprised of health plans, providers, vendors, standards development organizations, and government representatives, WEDI provides a wealth of experience in advising HHS and educating the industry on a wide range of private sector health IT initiatives and federal regulatory requirements.

Today, the health care industry stands at a crossroads. The COVID-19 national pandemic has had a terrible impact on American families and has pushed our care delivery system to the brink of collapse. At the same time, this national emergency has highlighted the need for systemic improvements in how we treat patients, exchange health information, and pay for medical services. HHS, through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and other agencies, has been working diligently for more than 15 years to advance the implementation of health IT, promote nationwide health information exchange, and advance administrative simplification to improve the health of the nation and reduce costs.

Use the link below to read the full letter.