Build or Buy? HTI-2 Presents Health IT Vendors With a Strategic Fork in the Regulatory Road – Regulatory Talk Series

This article is the fifth in the Healthcare Regulatory Talk series.With the public comment period now closed, the newly renamed Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC) has received substantial feedback on its proposed HTI-2 regulation, particularly regarding its efforts to align multiple regulatory agencies.For health IT developers, HTI-2 marks a critical decision point. Health IT vendors have long grappled with the tradeoffs between building and maintaining capabilities like e-prescribing in-house or outsourcing to platform providers like DrFirst. These concerns often center on whether e-prescribing is considered critical intellectual property, whether platform providers can deliver adequate service and innovation, and whether the economics justify outsourcing.