On March 8^th, the HIT Standards Committee Implementation Workgroup held a hearing in Washington, DC, on strategies, opportunities, and challenges to the implementation of EHRs. Aneesh Chopra, the Chair of the Implementation Workgroup and the White House Chief Technology Officer, opened the session by setting the goals of the meeting – listening to success stories from panelists in the public and private sectors that could spur meaningful use of EHRs. “We’re looking for success stories and where we can help to accelerate adoption … the standards for meaningful use are not new – some organizations have been engaging in meaningful use for some time.”

The hearing kicked off with testimonies from the public sector panel, moderated by Linda Fischetti, a Committee Member and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Chief Health Informatics Officer. Representatives from the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), Vermont Health Access, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Alabama Medicaid, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) all shared their experiences. Mr. Buetow from NCI spoke about the NCI Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG), a registry service which allows patients, researchers and providers to access information. Chopra later cited caBIG as an example of a public sector tool that could be commercially adopted as a means of patient engagement and data exchange. In addition, Dr. Doug Fridsma of the ONC cited NHIN Direct as a model that could allow states to be an enabling organization through their health information exchange (HIE). For example, Dr. Fridsma said that NHIN Direct could assist rural community providers by taking information in simple text format and reporting quality measures to CMS.

The second panel of the day, the private sector panels, was moderated by Liz Johnson, a Committee Member and Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s Vice President Clinical Informatics, and Judy Murphy, a Committee Member and Aurora Health Care’s Vice President of Information Services. Implementation experiences were shared by the following health providers and their respective EHR vendors:

• Baylor Health Care System and Eclipsys Corporation
• Good Samarian Hospital and McKesson Corporation
• Truman Medical Centers and Cerner Corporation
• University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics and Epic Systems
• New York City Primary Care Information Project and eClinical Works
• Quality Health Network and Axolotl Corporation
• Dr. Jennifer Brull and eMDs, Inc.

Mr. Chopra was quick to point out that the healthcare industry is full of examples of meaningful use that could offer models of adoption for providers or used as a basis to further commercial development and innovation. One strong example of this was the experience of Mitzi Cardenas from the Truman Medical Center, a safety net acute care hospital system that has deployed EHRs. Truman has already anticipated meaningful use requirements and is actively incorporating a variety of tools to prepare for it, although it is having difficulty finding capital as uncompensated care has risen.

The third panel on Innovation was moderated by Cris Ross, a Committee Member and MinuteClinic’s Executive Vice President Product and Information Services. The Innovation Panel featured testimonies from Healthcare for the Homeless, SureScripts, NaviNet, Group Health, Redwood MedNet and the VA, illustrating from experience the opportunities and challenges to implementation health IT. Mr. Chopra ended the meeting by thanking panelists and attendees for their contributions and productive dialogue, saying that the day “was not a one-man show … look around the room; we all did this together.”

For meeting materials, meeting schedules, and general information about the Health IT Standards Committee, please visit the HIT Standards Committee Website.

Tags: HIT Standards Committee, Meeting Summary

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