Research Based Models

Patient Demographic Data Quality Framework

The PDDQ Framework module is intended to support health systems, large practices, health information exchanges, and payers in improving their patient demographic data quality.

https://www.healthit.gov/playbook/pddq-framework/

 

ONC 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory Released

On December 20, 2016 the ONC released the 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory.

This is an update to our previous post "ONC Draft 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory Available".

ONC Health IT Playbook

The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology has updated content in the Health IT Playbook.

 The Health IT playbook was originally released in September 2016. It was developed from extensive research to answer many of the questions that providers ask when implementing and using health IT.

The update includes additional content on workforce training and improved usability. Workforce webinars can be found under the Transformation Support Section.

Humana CIO on Developing Integrated Care Delivery Model

In his article "Technology: the New Rx" Brian LeClaire describes how technology-enabled "integrated care delivery brings together our three primary activities: care delivery, the consumer experience, and clinical and consumer insights."

The four enabling technologies include mobile, social, cloud, and analytics.

 

ONC Draft 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory Available

The "Draft 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory" by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is available for comments. A PDF version is also available.

According to the ONC the Interoperability Standards Advisory serves the following three purposes.

1) To provide the industry with a single, public list of the standards and implementation specifications that can best be used to fulfill specific clinical health information interoperability needs.

2) To reflect the results of ongoing dialogue, debate, and consensus among industry stakeholders when more than one standard or implementation specification could be used to fulfill specific clinical health information interoperability need.

3) To document known limitations, preconditions, and dependencies as well as known security patterns among referenced standards and implementation specifications when they are used to fulfill a specific clinical health IT interoperability need.

 

ONC Report on Improving EHR Medication Management Safety

As part of its role in Health IT the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) provides safety and usability guidance for EHR development and implementation.

They recently addressed medication management errors in ambulatory EHR systems. This resulted in the "Report on the Safe Use of Pick Lists in Ambulatory Care Settings: Issues and Recommended Solutions for Improved Usability in Patient Selection and Medication Ordering."

More information on this effort are documented in the HealthITBuzz blog entry "Using EHRs to Make Medication Management Safer."

 

Medicare Quality Payment Program API

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released an Application Program Interface (API) for the Medicare Quality Payment Program (see press release).

The API, available at https://qpp.cms.gov/api/, will allow developers to write software using the information described on the Explore Measures section of QPP.cms.gov.

Goals and Tools

According to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change, a "Gap Exists Between Vision for Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) to Improve Care Coordination and Clinicians' Experiences."

The study found that commercial EMRs are better at meeting billing and documentation needs than clinical needs.

"This work emphasizes that improving care coordination will not happen with technology alone," said Commonwealth Fund Vice President Anne-Marie Audet, M.D. "What is needed is a redesign of care processes and work flow; clinicians will also need to adopt new ways of working and communicating within practices and across organizations."

As I have written before, Goals and Tools. It is not the tool makers responsibility for meeting business goals. It is the practitioner's responsibility for utilizing and taking advantage of the tools on hand to improve and optimize their outcomes. Even if it requires changing the way they work.

Health Level 7 (HL7) Resource

InterfaceWare provides a good resource for the HL7 Standard v2.6.

Using this resource you can browse through the entire v2.6 of the HL7 standard. This includes messages, segments, and fields.