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Download the full version: EHR: A Step To Quality Care PDF, 289K
The healthcare industry is working to establish and gain agreement on appropriate metrics and standards for electronic health records (EHRs). Although few best practices have emerged for implementing an EHR system, the concept of electronic health records is here to stay in the marketplace.
As the industry works toward standards and consensus regarding specific quality and cost metrics, it is important to understand the business and technical challenges of extracting information from existing structured and unstructured data sources. This capability will be a fundamental requirement for implementing the ultimate set of standards and guidelines.
In this viewpoint paper, HP and Mayo Clinic discuss issues related to implementing EHRs to improve care quality and lower cost, with a focus on the role of data. We briefly discuss the nature of quality, the types of metrics under consideration and the issues involved in determining the right set. We examine methods and technologies for extracting and retrieving data in a format that can be used to compute EHR performance metrics. And we offer steps organizations can take today as EHR development advances.