The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is supporting innovative research to address well-documented problems that impede the adoption of health IT. The knowledge generated and innovations created from this program will accelerate progress toward the meaningful use of health IT and a high-performing, adaptive, nationwide health care system.

The Strategic Healthcare IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) program is led by major collaborative efforts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Texas at Houston, Harvard University, the Mayo Clinic of Medicine, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

These collaborations are conducting breakthrough research to achieve tangible goals in their respective research areas over a four-year period. Strategic Healthcare IT Advanced Research Projects will be translated into patient-centered health IT products and services to create fundamental improvements along critical areas toward a high-performing, learning health care system.

SHARP awardees are currently conducting research along the following areas:

AREA ONE: Security and Health Information Technology – The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is helping develop technologies and policy recommendations that reduce privacy and security risks and increase public trust.

AREA TWO: Patient-Centered Cognitive Support – Innovative cognitive research is being led by the University of Texas, Houston to harness the power of health IT to integrate and support physician reasoning and decision-making as providers care for patients.

AREA THREE: Health Care Application and Network Design – Harvard University is leading platform-based research to create new and improved system designs that facilitate information exchange while ensuring the accuracy, privacy, and security of electronic health information.

AREA FOUR: Secondary Use of EHR Information – Mayo Clinic of Medicine is developing strategies to improve the overall quality of healthcare by leveraging existing EHR data to generate new, environmentally appropriate, best practice suggestions.

NIH Affiliate: Prototype Healthcare Intranet – Massachusetts General Hospital is developing technology, software, standards, and tools to provide higher quality patient data by enabling medical device manufacturers to create products that will interoperate with other manufacturers’ devices, EHRs, and health IT systems.

SHARP Project Officer:
Wil Yu, Special Assistant, Innovations, ONC, Office of the Chief Scientist

For More Information:
Please refer questions and comments regarding the Strategic Healthcare IT Advanced Research Projects program to SHARP@hhs.gov.