Final Plan for Safety in Health IT Systems
The federal government has big plans to regulate the safety for patient healthcare information in the United States. The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT has awarded this great task to the Joint Commission.
Patient information could be a prime target for identity theft and fraud, and lately has received major concerns from the American Medical Association. Surprisingly there is little knowledge about the errors causing security issues, but analysts have recently found that risks tend to come from the way health care providers use health IT systems. A plan to answer many of these questions was proposed at the end of last year and was just approved last week. The plan outlines the steps that will be taken by the Joint Commission to improve the safety of health IT systems.
So, what are the details for the Health IT Patient Safety Action and Surveillance Plan?
- Making it easier for clinicians to report patient safety events and risks related to using electronic health records
- Collecting and analyzing data on patient safety events
- Incorporating health IT safety in post-market surveillance of EHRs
- Using the meaningful use program and the National Quality Strategy to establish and advance health IT patient safety priorities
- Incorporating safety into certification criteria for health IT products
- Investigating and taking corrective action as necessary
- Developing a strategy and recommendations for a risk-based framework for health IT
- Establishing an ONC safety program to coordinate implementation of the final plan
continue reading | via iHealth Beat
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