Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX March/April 2005

IT IN HEALTHCARE

While the healthcare industry starts responding to the government's call for interoperable electronic health records, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is prepared to reinforce whatever standards are decided on through its accreditation process.

Up to now, JCAHO hasn't required hospitals to put in EHRs because of the barriers to implementation, says Paul M. Schyve, MD, senior vice president of the joint commission. But its information management requirements are written with the idea of EHRs in mind.

"For example, we say that where there are standardized nomenclatures, organizations should use them," Schyve points out. "While that's applicable to written records, it comes out of the thinking that EHRs should be interoperable."

JCAHO performance requirements related to those systems will become more detailed as more hospitals acquire EHRs, Schyve adds. However, the accreditation body will go along with whatever technical standards are adopted nationally. Schyve believes that the federal government's decision to use messaging standards like HL7, DICOM, NCPDP, and IEEE 1073 will probably have a big impact on the private sector.

At present, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology is drawing up requirements only for ambulatory EHRs. But Schyve says that JCAHO would welcome the certification of inpatient EHRs as well.

"There are large medical centers that can make all those decisions on their own," he observes. "But the typical hospital still faces the same questions. So to have certification for the products designed for those hospitals seems quite appropriate."

Copyright ©2005 MX