This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
National agency strives to regulate EMR quality through certification
Part one of a series focuses on the need for communication between different EMR systems.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The federal government continues to advocate the national adoption of electronic medical record systems, but some orthopedists are unsure how federal initiatives will protect them in the process of integrating such systems.
In his 2004 State of the Union address, President Bush announced that electronic medical records (EMR) systems will help make health care more effective, cost efficient and accessible to consumers, and that every American should have access to electronic health records by 2014.
This led to the creation of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, a national group focused on instituting a national EMR network.
Afterward, the national coordinator contracted the private, nonprofit Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) to develop standards to certify EMR systems. CCHIT certified the first 37 ambulatory/office-based EMR systems in 2006. To date, CCHIT has certified nearly 60 such systems.
Communication is the goal
While the certification process does allay some physicians’ fears about privacy protection in EMR systems, more emphasis should be placed on how effectively different EMR systems “communicate,” according to A. Herbert Alexander, MD, who is a frequent lecturer on EMR at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting.
“Thus, product ‘A’ can share its data with product ‘B.’ This ensures that there will be ‘interoperability’ among the electronic health records,” he told Orthopedics Today.
But, this can come with a steep price tag. “A certification application currently costs an EMR system manufacturer $28,000. Once you are certified, you can advertise the [certification] feature, but does that mean that your electronic health record system is any better than the next guy’s? No!” Alexander said.
Usability is paramount
To offset the certification fee, some smaller companies may pass this added cost on to the customer as part of the system’s price.
“I think that it is more important right now to have the features that you need for your practice in an electronic health record with the assurance that interoperability is built in for the future,” Alexander said.
“What I really think should happen is that all fees for certification should be paid by the U.S. government, so that an application does not cost the individual electronic health record [system] vendors,” he said.
In November, Orthopedics Today will continue the occasional series on integrating EMR systems into the orthopedic practice.
For more information:
- Herbert Alexander, MD, can be reached at Alexander Orthopaedics PA, 100 Hospital Drive, Suite. 100, P.O. Box 6997, Ketchum, ID 83340-6997; 208-727-0005; e-mail: herb_alexander@msn.com.
Reference:
- The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology can be reached at www.cchit.org.
- Orthopedics Today correspondent Matthew Hasson contributed to this article.