The eHealthrecord.info is designed to provide the latest news, best practices, policy and ideas about electronic healthcare. The subject is salient to advancing the quality of care; our objective is to provide you with clarity and to keep you current. Think of it as a supplement to the journal ElectronicHealthcare. It will be updated every two weeks. To view the full database, please visit http://www.longwoods.com/eHealthrecord/ EHRindex.html. Subscribe to the eHealthrecord.info for free at http://www.longwoods.com/mailinglist/index.html.

Health Information - Ten-Year Plan for the U.S.

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has released the first part of the government's plan to establish a national health information infrastructure in 10 years and bring electronic health records to every patient. The report, prepared by national health IT coordinator Dr. David Brailer, outlines the "Decade of Health Information Technology" program, a joint public-private initiative with four major overall goals and several specific actions.

The four goals:

• Bring EHRs into clinical practice: The report recommends incentives for EHR adoption, shared investments for technology and changing current clinical practice to support electronic records. Low-cost support systems should help reduce the risks of changing clinical practice and operation, the report states. Technology transfer and other support can improve adoption among providers in rural and underserved areas.
• Connect clinicians: To connect healthcare workers and support the exchange of information for clinical decisions and treatments, the report recommend health data exchange collaborations on the local level and coordinating federal health systems to improve care, reimbursement procedures and oversight. As part of a national infrastructure, a set of tools such as mobile authentication, Web architecture and security features is needed, according to the report.
• Create more consumer-focused care: Personalizing care depends on more widespread use of personal health records, greater ability for patients to choose providers based on factors such as care quality and an expansion of telemedicine services to reach patients in rural and underserved areas, the report states.
• Improve population-based health: The report recommends integrating public health surveillance systems into an interoperable network that supports data exchange. A similar infrastructure that brings together state and local data collection efforts could improve studies on care quality and other health issues. Better information tools to accelerate research and dissemination of results are also needed, according to the report.

For more information, please visit https://www.longwoods.com/ppp/ 10YearPlanUSA04.pdf.

Digital Bridges Need Concrete Foundations: Lessons from the Health InterNetwork India

The World Health Organization's Health InterNetwork pilot project has shown that national and international partnerships can use information and communication technologies to strengthen the public health system and bridge the digital divide in health.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are often promoted as bridges to better governance, economies and health, but examples of how these bridges can be successfully built are rare. Health InterNetwork India (HIN India) aimed to show the value of integrating ICT into public health practice. This article describes the Health InterNetwork approach and focuses on lessons from the HIN India pilot project. For more information, visit https://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/ content/full/328/7449/1193

Standards Harmony: Establishing Common Standards Is Key to the Success of the NHII

The primary benefit of the EHR is to improve the quality of healthcare at the point of care. But a secondary benefit is to facilitate the exchange of healthcare data between providers whenever a referral is made. As long as the data are being captured at the point of care through the EHR, it follows that a subset of that data could and should be extracted from the EHR and sent to the referred institution. If the continuity of care record standard has already identified, or at least suggested, the contents of the data subset, then mapping the data to the functions in the HL7 EHR model would not only save significant time and energy, but also allow the industry to gravitate to a harmonized standard. For more information, please visit https://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/ documents/ahima/pub_bok1_023228.html.

Picture Archiving and Communications System ... In the Picture!

Interior Health is in this picture - spending $12 million to create a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS). Building upon the existing success of the Imaging System in the Thompson Cariboo, PACS allows physicians to access images of their patients from virtually anywhere in Interior Health, and images are archived so that they are quickly accessible for review and transfer to any site within IH at any time of the day or night. It will be the first time in British Columbia that a patient's images are directly linked into their IH EHR. For more information, please visit https://www.interiorhealth.ca/Media+Centre/ Media+Releases/June/PACS.htm.

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