WASHINGTON -- A report released Aug. 9 for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) shows how clinicians can make electronic health records more efficient and improve billing accuracy.
“If adopted, these recommendations will strengthen current standards and provide new efficiencies to clinicians who use electronic health records in their practices,” said Robert Kolodner, MD, ONC’s National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
“Updating the current criteria to include more of our recommendations will provide an opportunity to reduce costs associated with inaccurate billing and potential health care fraud.”
The recommendations are part of a report prepared by RTI International for ONC and outlines 14 ways to ensure EHRs are efficient and cost saving. According to RTI, the recommendations were developed by a team of experts and was later reviewed by more than 75 healthcare industry leaders.
Software companies SAS and SPSS, as well as the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), also worked on the project.
Many of the recommendations are designed to improve existing standards for electronic health record systems, while others work to create additional requirements to improve oversight of billing accuracy and detect potential improper payments, according to RTI.
The report also shows how to quality of care can be enhanced through improved evidence-based clinical decision support, the timely communication of clinical information, and better documentation, researchers said.
According to John R. Holmen, senior informaticist at Intermountain HealthCare in Salt Lake City, quality of care should be the prime motivator in improving EHRs. “We’ve focused on the tools that make a physician more effective while seeing the patient, specifically that the EHR is medical information not just billing and payment information,” Holmen said. “Our work at Intermountain HealthCare is on IT solutions to deliver the most relevant medical information about the patient to the provider and assisting in determining the best treatment for that patient.”
RTI researchers said that plans need to be developed to ensure that the recommendations are implemented into the infrastructure for the Nationwide Health Information Network, which will provide the foundation for interoperable, secure and standards-based health information exchange nationally.
Stephanie Rizk, project manager on the RTI project said the report is meant to help providers move from merely “getting it done” to using EHRs to improve quality of care, increase efficiency and the protection of personal healthcare information.
The report will be forwarded to the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology for consideration during the 2008 certification criteria cycle.
“We understand that they have to balance their view with things that are achievable, doable and things that will make a difference, Rizk said, but she expects that “a good number” of the recs will make it into the 2008 certification criteria.