HHS Announces Major Commitments from Healthcare Industry to Make EHRs Work Better for Patients & Providers
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that organizations that provide 90 percent of EHRs software used by the five leading healthcare systems, major professional associations, stakeholder groups and hospitals all over the country have promised to honor the following three main commitments to improve the flow of information between patients and practices.
• Consumer Access
To assist patients in accessing their data in an easy and secure manner from any location, share it with others and learn how to use the information to get improved healthcare for themselves and their family. A number of top IT developers have committed to the usage of standard application programming interfaces and one established way of intercommunication, Health Level 7 — Fast Health Care Interoperability Resources (FHIR®), in order to make it easy to use on smart devices and ensure compatibility with each other. Developments like these can enable customers to access their medical information such as lab results, monitor their health and connect with their doctors.
• No Information Blocking
To help practices exchange patients’ health information with each other and the patient for care so that nobody can stop electronic health information on purpose arbitrarily. Currently even when information is exchanged it can be underutilized or difficult to use due to varying standards. The report that was submitted to the congress by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) also talked about the issue of data blockage.
• Standards
To employ accepted state-level, interoperability standards, rules and regulations for digital health related information and implement best practices especially related to information security and confidentiality. Numerous market leaders are adopting ONC’s Interoperability Standards Advisory — a directory of current and upcoming standards as well as details on how to implement them. To keep up with the latest advancements in the health IT industry, this guidebook is revised yearly. Identification of contemporary best practices in standards will make it easier for providers to work together and share health information.
Over 40,000 doctors, executives, health IT professionals and suppliers worldwide participated in the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference. HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell, viewed these commitments as a big step forward in the endeavor to provide result oriented, improved healthcare. More interoperable data results in more informed providers, patients and families empowering them to be active participants.
