Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

The government is demanding increased standardization in electronic health transactions and encouraging electronic health record (EHR) adoption. Learn more about what s been going on so you don t get left behind.

Timeline: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) started the Health Information Technology Initiative in 2004 to encourage providers to adopt "secure, standards-based electronic health records (EHR)" that would both improve patient care and facilitate "administrative efficiency."

Goal: President Bush has called for most Americans to have access to an interoperable electronic health record by 2014.

In 2005, HHS formed the American Health Information Community (AHIC), which comprises leaders from both the public and private sectors who, according to the HHS website, "represent a broad spectrum of health-care stakeholders." The AHIC was charged with the task of coming up with recommendations on adopting interoperable health IT in a "smooth, market-led way."

HHS awarded nine contracts to workgroups, each charged with a different role in this effort to standardize how health care organizations use electronic information.

Last May, the AHIC delivered its first set of recommendations to the Secretary of HHS, who accepted recommendations (generally concerned with efforts to protect the consumer's information in transactions) in each of the following areas:

• Consumer Empowerment

Recommendation: "To create a consumer-directed and secure electronic health-care registration information and medication history for patients."

• Chronic Care

Recommendation: "To use secure messaging, such as email, for communication between patients and their healthcare providers."

• Electronic Health Records

Recommendation: "To create standardized, secure records of past and current laboratory test results that is accessible by health professionals."

• Bio-surveillance

Recommendation: "To enable the transfer of standardized and anonymized health data to authorized public health agencies within 24 hours."

Currently: The government is bringing the push for health IT standardization to its own front step: HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt accepted the AHIC's recommendation that federal health-care delivery systems develop an adoption plan to integrate these standards into their software systems by December 2007.

So, how will this help you when it comes time to choose health IT software? One of the immediate outcomes of the initiative offers great news for many health care organizations and health IT consumers.

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) has certified the first 37 ambulatory (or clinician office-based) electronic health record products. CCHIT-certified products must meet certain baseline criteria for functionality, security, and interoperability.

Resource: To see a list of these certified vendors, check out this website: www.cchit.org/certified/products.htm.