In preparation for expanding the Nationwide Health Information Network's NHIN Exchange beyond federal agencies and their contractors and grantees, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is developing governance rules for private-sector participation. ONC is planning to issue a request for information in August, seeking public comments on how to shape the governance structure, Government Health IT reports. A proposed rule will follow early next year before ONC finalizes the rule in the summer of 2011, said Mary Jo Deering, senior policy advisor in the ONC Office of Policy and Planning at a Health IT Policy Committee meeting last Friday."Without governance, the NHIN can't expand and grow beyond the current specific category of participants that are limited by legal guidance," Deering explained. FierceEMR