Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
★ MemberONC sets health IT interoperability standards, certifies EHR technology under the ONC Health IT Certification Program, owns USCDI evolution (v6 final July 24, 2025; v7 released July 23, 2026 per ONC Standards Bulletin 2026-2), runs TEFCA through the RCE (Sequoia Project), and enforces information blocking under 45 CFR Part 171. The ASTP dual title ended March 31, 2026 and ONC's standalone name was restored April 1, 2026 (Federal Register 2026-06284); the reported move of the CTO, Chief AI Officer and Chief Data Officer functions to the HHS Office of the CIO rests on trade press and is pending confirmation on an official HHS page. ONC has no independent HCA: its contracting runs through the HHS Office of the Secretary, which since January 2026 means OMAS. HTI-5, proposed December 29, 2025, would cut 34 of 60 certification criteria and revise seven; no final rule as of October 19, 2026.
ONC's procurement footprint is small. Its regulatory reach is enormous: USCDI determines what data EHRs must exchange, TEFCA determines who participates in the network, and information blocking enforcement determines who pays the penalty. The live question this quarter is HTI-5: the proposed rule (comment period closed February 27, 2026) strips 34 certification criteria and reorients the program around FHIR APIs, and some removals are written to take effect January 1, 2027. Track ONC for what it enables and what it stops requiring, not what it buys.
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