Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 81 / Wednesday, April 29, 2009 / Notices 19561 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES (HHS) 

Emergency Care Coordination Center 

(ECCC) 

AGENCY: Department of Health and 

Human Services, Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Preparedness and 

Response. 

ACTION: Notice. 

Executive Summary 

The Emergency Care Coordination 

Center (ECCC) is a new strategic entity 

that is located within the Office of the 

Assistant Secretary for Preparedness 

and Response (ASPR) at the Department 

of Health and Human Services, in 

fulfillment of Homeland Security 

Presidential Directive #21 and in 

response to the following 2006 Institute 

of Medicine Reports: Emergency Care 

for Children, Hospital-Based Emergency 

Care and Emergency Medical Services: 

At the Crossroads. HHS recognizes that 

the successful delivery of daily 

emergency care is a necessary 

foundation for our nation’s emergency 

preparedness efforts. Public health and 

medical disaster readiness continue to 

be priorities for the U.S. government 

(USG). Improving the resiliency, 

efficiency, effectiveness, and capacity of 

daily hospital emergency medical care 

delivery will strengthen the nation’s 

state of readiness for public health 

emergencies and disasters. 

The primary mission of the ECCC is 

to support the USG’s coordination of inhospital emergency medical care 

activities and to promote programs and 

resources that improve the delivery of 

our nation’s daily emergency medical 

care and emergency behavioral health 

care. This will be accomplished through 

various mechanisms, including the 

promotion of both clinical and systemsbased emergency medical care research, 

dissemination of lessons learned– 

including those from the care of our 

men and women wounded in combat– 

and, finally, the development of 

partnerships throughout the USG and 

the emergency care stakeholder 

community to promote the translation of 

validated, evidence-based research into 

daily clinical practice. The ECCC will 

actively reach out to private sector 

stakeholders and Federal collaborators 

across the USG in order to encourage 

the coordination of emergency medical 

care efforts throughout existing and 

future Federal initiatives. 

The ECCC, through multi-level 

Federal collaboration, will create the 

Council on Emergency Medical Care 

(CEMC), a coalition comprised of 

subject-matter experts with 

representation from organizations across 

the USG. The CEMC will serve as both 

a strategic and operational element of 

the ECCC, providing policy level 

guidance and facilitating agency 

involvement. This entity will contribute 

to the development and advancement of 

ECCC priorities and will inform the 

development of joint strategies and 

cohesive policies across the USG to 

collaborate and coordinate ongoing 

efforts to improve the nation’s 

emergency medical care. 

The ECCC will work in coordination 

with the Federal Interagency Committee 

for Emergency Medical Services 

(FICEMS). Whereas FICEMS was 

established to ensure coordination 

among the Federal agencies involved 

with state, local, tribal, or regional 

emergency medical services and 9–1–1 

systems, and specifically focuses on 

issues relating to pre-hospital care, the 

ECCC is established to address issues 

relating to in-hospital emergency 

department care. Together, the ECCC 

and FICEMS will contribute to an 

Emergency Care Enterprise (ECE) that 

will coordinate efforts of the USG 

throughout the broad spectrum of 

emergency medical care. 

For further information, contact the 

Emergency Care Coordination Center at 

ECCC@hhs.gov, or visit the Web site at: 

http://www.hhs.gov/aspr/opeo/eccc/ 

Dated: April 16, 2009. 

W. Craig Vanderwagen, 

Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and 

Response, U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services. 

[FR Doc. E9–9719 Filed 4–28–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–37–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Office of the National Coordinator for 

Health Information Technology 

ACTION: Notification of the 

Establishment of the HIT Policy 

Committee. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces the 

establishment of the HIT Policy 

Committee. The American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111– 

5), section 13101, directs the 

establishment of the HIT Policy 

Committee. The HIT Policy Committee 

(also referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’) is 

charged with recommending to the 

National Coordinator a policy 

framework for the development and 

adoption of a nationwide health 

information technology infrastructure 

that permits the electronic exchange and 

use of health information as is 

consistent with the Federal Health IT 

Strategic Plan and that includes 

recommendations on the areas in which 

standards, implementation 

specifications, and certification criteria 

are needed. The HIT Policy Committee 

is also charged with recommending to 

the National Coordinator an order of 

priority for the development, 

harmonization, and recognition of such 

standards, specifications, and 

certification criteria. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Judith Sparrow, Office of the National 

Coordinator for Health Information 

Technology, e-mail 

judy.sparrow@hhs.gov or 202–205– 

4528. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Committee and its staff are 

governed by the provisions of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(FACA) (Pub. L. 92–463), as amended 

(5 U.S.C. App.), which sets forth 

standards for the formation and use of 

federal advisory committees. 

The Committee shall determine a 

schedule of meetings following an 

election of a Chairperson and a Vice 

Chairperson from among its members. 

II. Criteria for Members 

The Committee shall be comprised of 

the following, including a Chair and 

Vice Chair, and represent a balance 

among various sectors of the health care 

system so that no single sector unduly 

influences the recommendations of the 

Committee. Committee members shall 

be appointed in the following manner: 

• 3 members shall be appointed by 

the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services, 1 of whom shall be appointed 

to represent the Department of Health 

and Human Services and 1 of whom 

shall be a public health official; 

• 1 member shall be appointed by the 

majority leader of the Senate; 

• 1 member shall be appointed by the 

minority leader of the Senate; 

• 1 member shall be appointed by the 

Speaker of the House of Representatives; 

• 1 member shall be appointed by the 

minority leader of the House of 

Representatives; 

• Such other members as shall be 

appointed by the President as 

representatives of other relevant Federal 

agencies; 

• 13 members shall be appointed by 

the Comptroller General of the United 

States of whomÆ 3 members shall be advocates for 

patients or consumers; 

Æ 2 members shall represent health 

care providers, one of which shall be a 

physician; 


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