Regulation: Government-funded group endorses standards for health information technology
The National Quality Forum, a health-care improvement nonprofit group comprised up of nearly 400 national, state, regional, and local private and public organizations endorsed nine new national voluntary standards for health information technology in the areas of electronic prescribing, electronic health record interoperability, care management, quality registries, and the medical home.
The National Quality Forum (NQF), a health-care improvement nonprofit group comprised of nearly 400 national, state, regional, and local private and public organizations-including the largest primary care physician groups-endorsed nine new national voluntary standards for health information technology (HIT) in the areas of electronic prescribing, electronic health record (EHR) interoperability, care management, quality registries, and the medical home.
With so much emphasis put on HIT in recent years (including a
Although these nine standards are designed to help guide doctors, practice managers, and health system IT directors select the right tools to enhance their practice and patient care, public and private third-party payers may use them to in conjunction with quality incentives.
"[NQF] measures are very frequently used by public and private purchasers for public reporting or pay-for-performance," says NQF President and CEO Janet Corrigan. Since this particular project was funded by CMS, it clearly signals an interest on their part in considering these various performance measures
The standards encourage the use of e-prescribing, the adoption of an EHR system which can communicate with external laboratories and the implementation of patient tracking systems and registries.
Such recommendations echo those other large, diverse health-care improvement groups (such as the
"Without some value proposition to the end user to adopt and use HIT, it will just sit on the shelf," says John Moore, founder and managing director of health-care analyst firm, Chilmark Research.
Newsletter
Stay informed and empowered with Medical Economics enewsletter, delivering expert insights, financial strategies, practice management tips and technology trends — tailored for today’s physicians.
