This appeared a little while ago.
Q3 2013 Federal Health IT Activity
Monday, October 21, 2013
The federal government continued to implement the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, during the third quarter of 2013. Below is a summary of key developments and milestones achieved between July 1 and September 30.
Highlights
The third quarter of 2013 saw a number of important developments:
- National Coordinator Submits Resignation. On Aug. 6, Farzad Mostashari announced his resignation as National Coordinator for Health IT, effective Oct. 4. Principal Deputy National Coordinator David Muntz also announced his resignation in September. Jacob Reider is serving as acting national coordinator, and Lisa Lewis is serving as acting principal deputy national coordinator until permanent replacements are announced.
- ONC, AHRQ Release Health IT Safety Plan. On July 2, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, in collaboration with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, published a final version of its Health IT Patient Safety Action and Surveillance Plan. The plan addresses the role of health IT within HHS' commitment to patient safety and builds upon the recommendations made in the 2011 Institute of Medicine report, "Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care." The plan has two related objectives: (i) use health IT to make care safer; and (ii) continuously improve the safety of health IT.
- ONC Releases Health IT Strategic Plan Progress Report. In June, ONC released a progress report highlighting key steps the federal government has taken to implement the five strategic goals of the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2011-15: (i) achieve adoption and information exchange through meaningful use of health IT; (ii) improve care, improve population health and reduce health care costs through the use of health IT; (iii) inspire confidence and trust in health IT; (iv) empower individuals with health IT to improve their health and the health care system; and (v) achieve rapid learning and technology advancement.
All the details are found here:
The rest of the article covers a really broad range of initiatives in Standards, Privacy and Security, Health Information Exchange and Consumer Interaction.
Well worth a careful read.
David.
Oh dear.
ReplyDeleteI've just looked at the three documents at
http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/safety_plan_master.pdf
http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/federal-health-it-strategic-plan-progress-report-0613.paper_version.v2.pdf
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/insight/2013/overview-of-q3-2013-federal-health-it-activity
I looked for the word accuracy.
It only appears in the safety plan in the following context:
As EHR adoption becomes more widespread, the incidence of health IT-related harm may increase.
At the same time, the increase in EHR adoption also creates a unique opportunity to improve patient safety. For example, EHRs can:
* Increase clinicians’ awareness of potential medication errors and adverse interactions;
* Improve the availability and timeliness of information to support treatment decisions, care coordination, and care planning;
* Make it easier for clinicians to report safety issues and hazards; and
* Give patients the opportunity to more efficiently provide input on data accuracy than what paper records would allow.
No mention at all that the quality, accuracy, timeliness, appropriateness, ownership, privacy and manageability of health information is even worth raising as a potential issue.
Once again it's all technology centric, not information driven.
And, even worse, according to the above quote, data accuracy is a patient issue.
Stupid.