Health IT has the potential to improve patient safety — but it can also cause patient harm if appropriate policies and standards aren't implemented, according to a Bipartisan Policy Center report.
The Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based political think tank, conducted a literature review and discussions with 40 experts and stakeholders about the intersection of patient safety and health IT. The final report details three short-term policy recommendations for implementing health IT that protects patients and promotes innovation.
Here are the three recommendations.
1. An independent nonprofit should launch an effort to develop health IT safety priorities. The organization — which would be maintained by research grants from the federal government, matched by private sector funding — should collect and analyze information about health IT safety events to track industry progress and establish best practices and standards.
2. Federal agencies working in health IT and patient safety should consider ways to incentivize adoption of these best practices and standards. To facilitate this adoption, developers should also focus on standards such as user-centered design and interoperability, and develop communication strategies to raise awareness about their tools.
3. The federal government and accreditation, certification and standards organizations should coordinate with one another to determine best health IT standards. Organizations should consider jointly adopting baseline standards related to health IT use, and federal programs — like ONC's health IT certification initiative — should ensure current certification requirements are enforced.
Click here to view the full report.