The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT today released new data on the adoption of certified electronic health records. Below is the joint statement of CHIME Board Chair Marc Probst and CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO
Since enactment of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH), hospitals, health systems and physician practices have made considerable progress adopting electronic health records (EHRs). Importantly, technology is now viewed as essential to achieving the Triple Aim of an improved patient experience, better population health and reduced costs.
While data released today by the Office of the National Coordinator show increased use of certified EHRs, as well as improvements to information sharing, some foundational issues must be addressed before we can fully harness the power of health IT. It is time to find a way to accurately identify patients wherever and whenever they seek care. A national patient ID solution will not only improve patient safety by ensuring that patients can be matched to their records, but it will accelerate efforts to achieve interoperability and information exchange. Tomorrow, the CHIME Healthcare Innovation Trust will announce winners of the first phase of its National Patient ID Challenge and open the Final Innovation Round for submissions. This national crowd-sourcing competition aims to find a viable solution for ensuring accurate patient identification.
It is also vital that we come together around a set of standards for achieving interoperability. We need to develop standards that allow data to flow seamlessly between care settings, regardless of the application or vendor that’s being used.
CHIME and its members will continue to work with Congress and federal agencies to pursue meaning health IT policies that advance the Triple Aim.
