DANVILLE, PA November 8, 2006 -- Geisinger Health System is convening leading national authorities to help address potential risks and challenges associated with the widespread implementation of electronic health records (EHR).
"Electronic health records have the capacity to bring enormous benefits to patients and providers but, like other clinical innovations, they carry risks that must be identified and managed," said James Walker, M.D., chief medical information officer at Geisinger. "We are bringing together a group of recognized leaders to form a national advisory panel to identify the scope of EHR safety, define research needs and benchmarks, and establish what individual healthcare institutions can do to make electronic health records as safe and effective as possible."
Walker said, "Widespread use of EHR systems in care delivery is a new proposition for most caregivers. A national body addressing EHR safety and effectiveness would play a pivotal role in recommending standards, policies, and shared functions, such as creation of the first national database that will allow organizations to benchmark quality and learn from others' experience."
According to Ron Paulus, M.D., chief technology and innovation officer at Geisinger, individuals who have already agreed to participate represent a cross-section of nationally recognized stakeholders who are "renowned in their respective fields and who bring immense common sense to what they do."
"Although numerous industry stakeholders have called for widespread, near-term adoption of EHRs in essentially all clinical practices, a large adoption gap exists between the theorists and those clinicians seeing patients every day. This initiative would address the critical safety and effectiveness barriers to widespread EHR adoption," said Paulus.
Those individuals who have agreed to participate include: