The following press release appeared a day or say ago.
Healthcare IT - "It's A Sleeping Giant"
HIMSS Global Enterprise Task Force (GEFT) investigates implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) in 15 countries around the world
CHICAGO (Sept. 5, 2008) – Recognizing common threads that affect all EHR implementations in 15 countries, the Global Enterprise Task Force of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has released “Electronic Health Records: A Global Perspective.” The extensive study reviewed healthcare IT progress in Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North America.
The 16-member task force looked at various EHR components within each country, including, security, quality, financing sources and barriers to adoption. Amid many variations, four common factors emerged that affect implementation of the electronic health record throughout the world. They are:
- Funding
- Governance
- Standardization and interoperability
- Communication
“This comprehensive report provides actionable lessons learned from each of the countries we reviewed. Despite the local differences in the logistics of EHR implementation, we found that all of the countries believed in the benefits of health IT and introduced this technology into their respective health systems,” said Steve Arnold, MD, MS, MBA, CPE, chair of the task force and president/CEO, Healthcare Consultants International, Lagrangeville, NY. Walter W. Wieners, FHIMSS, co-chaired the task force and is managing principal, Walter W. Wieners Consulting, Sausalito, Calif.
The 119-page report presents findings on EHR implementation by country in five categories. Each chapter features an overview of the country’s electronic health record status followed by a review of achievements, barriers and recommendations in the different areas.
National EHR Program introduces the electronic health record approach by each country by reviewing two vital areas of implementation. National IT/ICT Status & Strategy describes existing IT/ICT status and strategy for the future implementation of a national EHR system. The section on the National/Regional EHR Approach looks at how the country approached acceptance, adoption, deployment, operation and support of a national EHR and health information exchange (HIE) system.
EHR Governance reviews the legal and/or regulatory mechanisms, and policies and procedures in place, that either enable or hinder the implementation and deployment of EHRs and HIE.
The Technology section provides a wide perspective on the architecture and applications of the EHR system with topics of the personal health record, non-health communities and EHR integration beyond the country’s borders also covered. An update on the progress of technology Adoption provides an overview of EHR, PHR and HIE services with implementation success stories from the countries with more mature EHR systems.
Available metrics of successful EHR/PHR/HIE Outcomes, and financial ROI Benefits and Implementation Experiences, are described in this section. With health IT recognized as an evolving technology, Next Steps summarizes each country’s plans.
“It’s imperative to view healthcare IT solutions in the global context,” said Patricia Wise, RN, MSN, MA, FHIMSS, vice president, Health Information Systems, HIMSS. “By documenting what worked and what didn’t, the white paper offers an expanded perspective on the progress, and challenges, of EHR implementation throughout the world.”
The HIMSS Global Enterprise Task Force, formed in 2006 under the HIMSS Enterprise Information Steering Committee, includes industry leaders from around the world who provide expert analyses from a local perspective.
The work group plans to update and expand the report in future editions and calls on interested health IT experts throughout the world to contribute. Contact the HIMSS Europe office at europe@himss.org for more information on participation.
The white paper, “Electronic Health Records: A Global Perspective,” is available on the HIMSS Web site.
The release is found here:
http://www.himss.org/ASP/ContentRedirector.asp?ContentId=68380&type=HIMSSNewsItem
The report is directly downloadable here:
http://www.himss.org/content/files/200808_EHRGlobalPerspective_whitepaper.pdf
Thanks to Joanne Lessard (one of the Canadian contributors) for bringing this to my attention.
Pity Australia is just not on the real radar – except in the Executive Summary
David.
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