Technical standards are public policy. Many people tune out at the very mention of standards, but they are part of the public policy world as their impact can be broad and dramatic for any number of activities in a state, either enabling or hobbling them.
Technical standards bodies, in some ways, rival the power of legislatures but without the accountability of elections. State legislators should be paying attention.
Standards exist across a wide array of issues that are critical to a state’s success. Education, innovation, voting, and accounting are just a few areas where standards bodies make determinations that may or may not comport with the wishes of the legislature.
Yet where greater use of health technologies is concerned consumers often seem to be promised big advances and told of coming innovations only to see that they are actually years away from being real. That is to say, despite a clear indication of its value, the implementation seems to be delayed or even simply fail to materialize. Just one example is the ever-elusive promise of electronic health records.
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