The Health IT Policy Committee, a public advisory board to the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT, has recommended meaningful use stage 3 requirements designed to enhance data exchange among healthcare industry stakeholders.
In a letter to Acting National Coordinator for Health IT, Jacob Reider, MD, the committee recommends the following, based on input received from a public Request for Comment on health information exchange requirements for meaningful use stage 3.
EHR-supported patient record queries. In stage 3 EHRs should have the ability to query external EHRs for patients' medical records and also have the ability to respond to such queries from other systems.
EHR-supported provider directory queries. EHR systems should have the ability to query external provider directories to retrieve addressing and security credential information to support query-based record exchange. EHRs should also be able to respond to these queries.
A move toward easier data migration and patient portability. EHR standards and technical specifications should exist that will take the first step towards allowing providers to easily move data from an old to new system or move patient data from a former to a new provider's EHR system.
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