With ONC National Coordinator Robert N. Kolodner, MD, on its panel, the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Vendors Association focuses on advancing EHRs
ASHEVILLE, NC (September 26, 2007) – Building on its successful collaborative efforts to further the widespread adoption of EHRs, the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Vendors Association (EHRVA) provided an in-depth and patient-centric perspective on interoperability during the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, Inc. (NCHICA) Annual Conference & Exhibition. The conference, “Cultures in Transition – Healthcare Consumers, Payers and Providers,” continues in Asheville, NC, through today.
“NCHICA is pleased and honored to have EHRVA’s participation in our conference for the second year,” said Holt Anderson, executive director of NCHICA. “The EHRVA presentation demonstrates the real potential for improving health and care for consumers in a community where they are seen in different settings with electronic systems from competing vendors. Interoperability at this level will improve patient outcomes and safety through improved information flow and access.”
About 150 attendees learned more about the EHRVA and its unified position on achieving interoperability in healthcare. Members have developed the EHRVA Interoperability Roadmap to support the nationwide goal of interoperable EHRs and provide a guide that can help other healthcare organizations and health IT vendors to follow.
During the demonstration, the audience followed the flow of a patient from home, through physician office visits, and admission to the hospital using digital health information at each step to support continuity of care. This efficient and instantaneous exchange of patient health information illustrated the benefits of the EHR in improving the quality of patient care while reducing medical errors. Members of the vendor organization participating in either the demonstration or presentation included Allscripts, Meditech, Misys and Siemens. Cap Med, IBM and Initiate also participated in the demonstration.
With applications of the Integrating the Health Enterprise (IHE) infrastructure and processes as part of its interoperability demonstration, the vendors illustrated how a medical summary with patient information and images can flow securely through the patient care process using the latest Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) interoperability specifications.
Following the demonstration, Robert M. Kolodner, MD, coordinator, Office of the National Coordinator, joined EHRVA and NCHICA members in a panel discussion. Other members of the panel included:
- Holt Anderson/NCHICA
- John Jenkins/Moses Cone Health System
- Geoff Lawson/Morehead Memorial Hospital
- Hugh Zettel/General Electric
- George Cole/Allscripts
During this open panel discussion, the panel members presented their perspectives on accelerating the adoption of interoperable health IT with input from audience members as well.
“Participating in the NCHICA conference provided another opportunity for our members to be part of this focused effort in North Carolina and nationwide, to improve the delivery and quality of patient care with health information technology,” said Harris Gilbert, vice chair of the EHRVA Acceleration/Adoption Committee and vice president of marketing, digiChart, Inc., Nashville, Tenn. “The EHRVA represents a strong alliance of software vendors that are working together to facilitate the implementation of electronic health records.”