No they were not. The quote, by David Blumenthal who designed the HITECH legistlation said this:
"Before you can create interoperability, you have to create operability"[1]
I'll leave it to you to decide whether this was a wise philosophy to underpin a major national IT project.
[1]http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/blumenthal-look-stage-1...