HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association Supports Achievable 'Meaningful Use' Criteria...

HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association Supports Achievable 'Meaningful
Use' Criteria in Comments to ONC

CHICAGO, July 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Electronic Health Records
Association (EHR Association) has made specific recommendations to the Office
of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) on
measurable criteria for achieving "meaningful use" of electronic health
records (EHRs), as called for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (ARRA). The Association specifically calls for 2011 objectives to be
based on software and standards that are currently deployed and implemented,
with a focus on adoption and use of comprehensive EHRs and recognition of the
need for differences between inpatient and ambulatory meaningful use criteria.

"Acquiring EHR technology does not automatically or quickly achieve
'meaningful use' and its intended benefits," said Justin Barnes (Greenway
Medical), EHR Association Chairman. "As vendors, we understand all too well
the complex process of analyzing workflow, configuring systems to meet the
needs of each environment and training clinicians. We encourage ONC to allow
adequate time for this process so that the taxpayers receive value for their
investment in HIT - more efficient and effective care delivery."

Other recommendations focus on computerized provider order entry (CPOE), tying
it to electronic medication administration records (eMAR) and targeted order
sets for specific chronic diseases. "We know that CPOE is not likely to be
successfully implemented if physicians don't have all the related information
they need to make good medical decisions," said Mark Segal, PhD (GE
Healthcare), EHR Association Vice Chairman. "We believe that 2011 'meaningful
use' criteria should reflect an incremental, rational approach to achieving
full CPOE over time."

"Quality reporting is another area that requires consideration," Barnes went
on to say. "Much good work has been done by CMS and NCQA on quality measures
and reporting, and we should build on that, with 'meaningful use' focusing on
data collection in the EHR and reporting of quality measures based on
resulting EHR data , rather data from than administrative or billing systems.
In addition, starting in 2011, there should also be measures to evaluate the
use of quality measures for patient care management."

The Association also took the opportunity to reinforce its long-standing
position that reporting and interoperability must be standards-based, using
the Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) work that has been
ongoing since 2005. HITSP operates under the auspices of ONC.

The HIMSS EHR Association, chartered in 2004, provides leadership for the
electronic health record community and their customers in the harmonization of
HIT standards, the EHR certification process, standards-based healthcare
interoperability, and performance and quality measures. The Association and
its member companies have participated in all of these initiatives over the
years, contributing extensive experience in the development and deployment of
EHRs. EHR Association executives speak with a unified voice to represent
member companies and their customers, and have supported codification of the
Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and a multi-stakeholder
approach to standards and certification.

About HIMSS EHR Association
The HIMSS EHR Association is a trade association of electronic health record
(EHR) companies that join together to lead the health IT industry in the
accelerated adoption of electronic health records in hospital and ambulatory
care settings in the US. The Association provides a leadership forum for the
EHR software provider community to speak with a unified voice relative to
standards development, the EHR certification process, interoperability,
performance and quality measures, and other EHR issues as they become subject
to increasing government, insurance and provider-driven initiatives and
requests. Membership is open to HIMSS Corporate Members companies that
design, develop and market their own EHRs. The Association is a partner of
the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and operates
as an independent organizational unit within HIMSS. For more information,
visit http://www.himssEHRA.org.

SOURCE HIMSS EHR Association

Joyce Lofstrom of HIMSS EHR Association, +1-312-915-9237, jlofstrom@himss.org