Electronic Health Record Association Supports Bipartisan Policy Committee Report on Patient Safety

CHICAGO (February 19, 2012) -- The Electronic Health Record Association (EHR Association), a collaboration of 40 EHR supplier companies, has announced its support of the just-released Bipartisan Policy Committee's (BPC) report, An Oversight Framework for Assuring Patient Safety in Health Information Technology (available at http://bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Patient%20Safety%20Health%20IT.pdf).

Mickey (Michele) McGlynn (Siemens), the Association's Chair, notes, "The BPC report is very much aligned with the Association's positions on health IT and patient safety.  In fact, our Statement of Commitment to Patient Safety and a Learning Healthcare System, which was published early last year, is based on a similar central theme that patient safety is a shared responsibility of all stakeholders.  Speaking for our members, we take this responsibility very seriously, recognizing the important role EHRs play."  The statement can be found at http://www.himssehra.org/docs/20120221_EHRAPatientSafetyStatementofCommitment.pdf.

The EHR Association recently responded to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's (ONC) Health Information Technology Patient Safety Action & Surveillance Plan for Public Comment, published in December 2012.  "We agree with many of ONC's recommendations, and see some of them echoed in the BPC report," said Sarah Corley, MD (NextGen), chair of the Association's Patient Safety Workgroup who, along with the Public Policy Leadership Workgroup chaired by Mark Segal, PhD (GE Healthcare), led a collaborative effort to develop the response.  She added, "We also see a number of opportunities to work with ONC and other key public and private sector stakeholders as these recommendations are implemented, and we stand ready to participate in that effort."  The Association's response to ONC is available at http://www.himssehra.org/docs/EHRA%20Comments%20on%20ONC%20Patient%20Safety%20Plan_FINAL.pdf.

Ms. McGlynn went on to say, "On behalf of the Association, we look forward to working with the other stakeholders to achieve our shared objective of a safe, learning healthcare system."

About the EHR Association

The EHR Association is a trade association of 40 electronic health record (EHR) companies that join together to lead the health IT industry in the accelerated adoption of electronic health records in hospital and ambulatory care settings in the US.  The Association provides a leadership forum for the EHR software developer community to speak with a unified voice relative to standards development, the EHR certification process, interoperability, performance and quality measures, patient safety, usability, and other EHR issues as they become subject to increasing government, insurance and provider-driven initiatives and requests.  The Association is a partner of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and operates as an independent organizational unit within HIMSS.  Membership is open to HIMSS Corporate Member companies that design, develop and market their own EHRs.  For more information, visit http://www.himssEHRA.org.