Electronic health records (EHRs) allow doctors to find the information they need to manage a patient's care at the touch of a button. But several journal articles have reported errors related to EHR use. As hospitals and doctors across the country adopt EHRs, they will need information on limiting such errors. To meet this need, a panel of national authorities has formed the Advisory Board of the EHR Safety Institute.
"The EHR has the potential to impact the life of every American," said Homer Chin, MD, Medical Director for Clinical Information Systems, Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region. "We want to help healthcare providers optimize their use of information technology to enhance the quality and safety of care."
Board members include experts from Geisinger Health System, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region, the Markle Foundation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the American College of Physicians. The Board will lead the EHR Safety Institute as it develops industry-wide approaches and policies to help healthcare organizations use EHRs safely and effectively.
While the nation has begun to move toward widespread use of EHRs, now is the time to systematize the lessons learned in the first phase of EHR evolution and address safety and effectiveness of those systems, board members said.
"Many organizations are now at square one in their EHR development," said John Tooker, MD, MBA, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Physicians. "We'll be helping to create a roadmap for a broad range of healthcare entities, from health systems to small physician practices."
The panel plans to define and disseminate widely applicable "best practices" that promote safe patient care, said James Walker, MD, FACP, Chief Medical Information Officer at Geisinger Health System and Director of the Institute. "We believe strongly in the benefits of EHRs and
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Contact: Patti Urosevich
purosevich@geisinger.edu
570-271-7441
Geisinger Health System
5-Mar-2007