With a number of Direct Project pilots popping up around the country, healthcare providers who want to have the capability to perform simple exchanges can take heart that this is one technology that is straightforward to use, even if it isn't quite "plug-and-play." The Direct Project is an effort of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to extend health information exchange to individual physicians and small practices who have limited resources and technology assets to meet requirements for meaningful use of electronic health records. It has been designed to "get the simplest, most practical, irreducible level of workable interoperability available as an option," David Blumenthal, MD, the national health IT coordinator, has said.
