A panel advising the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC) said it will heed the overwhelming consensus it has received in recent public comments to develop the simplest possible certification standards for accelerating health IT adoption.
The Health IT Standards Committee’s implementation workgroup reported today that it distilled the testimony of industry organizations within and outside healthcare, as well as contributors to its public blog. The participants provided details of their experiences with adopting standards.
On the blog, physicians and practices have reported that they have difficulty improving quality and productivity with their existing electronic health record systems. As a result, they are looking for the standards to provide a “pathway to success.” The blog will remain live until Dec. 1.
Under the health IT stimulus plan, health care providers will be entitled to receive federal incentive payments only if they purchase electronic health record certified to meet standards for interoperability and other features now being worked out by the committee.
Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator, emphasized that “experience in the field” embodied in the comments will inform how ONC will craft the health IT certification standards that ONC will release later this year.
ONC is expected to publish in late December an interim final rule on certification standards and a notice of proposed rulemaking for the certification process. The standards rule will detail standards for what constitutes a certified EHR.
Dr. John Halamka, vice chairman of the committee, said any refinements to the standards would likely be applied to standards for 2013 and beyond than for 2011, the first year in which providers will be eligible to receive incentive payments under the stimulus plan. In 2011, providers must adopt standards to share medication lists, medical problems, allergies and laboratory reports.
“I think we have a basic set of requirements, and there may be some polish done to them based on the comments and principles. We’re just beginning the directional cycle for 2013 and 2015,” he said.
Physician and industry comments received by the panel overwhelmingly asked that the simplest standards be put forward to provide business value and rapid adoption.
“Our posts have led to conversations with committee members here who have taken them to their constituents,” said Aneesh Chopra, the administration’s chief technology officer and chairman of the committee’s implementation work group.
Among its guiding principles, the committee should concentrate on getting buy-in from physicians for standards required in 2011 to share medication lists, medical problems, allergies and labs before moving to more complex objectives, he said.
Halamka suggested that the committee continue to gather comments about 2011 information exchanges to determine if there are ways to improve testing platforms and implementation guidance.
Another guiding principle recommends that the committee separate content standards, such as those for continuity of care documents, from transmission standards, as well as separate the network layer standards from application layer standards.
