CEO Survival Guide - AHRQ National Resource Center; Health ...

Efforts to Speed HIT AdoptionNumerous efforts to accelerate the adoption of HIT are currently underway in boththe public and private sectors. The federal government is providing leadership and coordinationthrough the Office of the National Coordinator for Health InformationTechnology (ONCHIT). ONCHIT was established within the Department of Health andHuman Services (DHHS) in 2004 to facilitate the development and nationwide implementationof an interoperable health information technology infrastructure within thenext 10 years (DHHS, 2005a).Public and Private Efforts to SpeedHIT Adoption• Helping providers select and implementEHRs• Encouraging adoption of EHRs throughP4P and public reporting• Establishing an e-prescribing system forMedicare recipients• Building a national health informationnetwork• Relaxing federal lawsONCHIT and other federal entities areworking in close collaboration with variousprivate-sector partners to move forward thisagenda. The Connecting for Health initiativesponsored by the Markle Foundation hasbeen particularly important. Initiated in2001, Connecting for Health is a collaborativeof more than 100 public and privateorganizations, including experts in clinicalmedicine, information technology, publicpolicy, consumer concerns, and patientprivacy (Connecting for Health, 2005a). Sinceits inception, Connecting for Health hasencouraged the use of HIT by endorsing a setof healthcare data standards, identifying andstudying privacy and security practices,defining key characteristics and benefits ofconsumer-controlled PHRs, and advocating adecentralized model for health informationexchange (i.e., the “Common Framework”)(Connecting for Health, 2005b).Helping Providers Selectand Implement EHRsEfforts under way to fuel the adoption ofHIT include movement toward a certificationprocess for HIT products and provision oftechnical assistance to providers. Certificationof EHR systems and their infrastructure ornetwork components is important because itcan be a high risk investment for a providerto select and invest in a particular EHRsystem. Concerns about whether the chosensystem will provide the necessary functionalityin both the short and long term and whetherthe vendor will remain in business to providewww.NQFExecutiveInstitute.org NQF Executive Institute 47