42 U.S.C. § 300jj–14 — Process for adoption of endorsed recommendations; adoption of initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria

(a) Process for adoption of endorsed recommendations (1) Not later than 90 days after receiving standards, implementation specifications, or certification criteria endorsed under section 300jj-11(c), the Secretary - working with representatives of other relevant federal agencies - must jointly review them and decide whether to propose adopting them. (2) If the Secretary decides to propose adoption of a grouping of standards, implementation specifications, or certification criteria, the Secretary must, through regulation under section 553 of title 5, decide whether to adopt that grouping. If the Secretary decides not to propose adoption, the Secretary must notify the National Coordinator and the HIT Advisory Committee in writing of that determination and the reasons for it. (3) The Secretary must provide for publication in the Federal Register of every determination made under paragraph (1). (b) Adoption of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria (1) Not later than December 31, 2009, the Secretary had to, through the rulemaking process in subsection (a)(2)(A), adopt an initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for the areas required for consideration under section 300jj-12(b)(2)(B). This initial rulemaking could be issued on an interim final basis. (2) Standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria adopted before February 17, 2009, through the process that existed under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, could be applied toward meeting the requirement in paragraph (1). (3) The Secretary must adopt additional standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria as necessary, consistent with the schedule published under section 300jj-12(b)(4). (c) Deference to standards development organizations When adopting and implementing standards under this section, the Secretary must give deference to standards published by standards development organizations and voluntary consensus-based standards bodies.